Mildred Scheel

Mildred Scheel (born Mildred Wirtz; 31 December 1931 in Cologne – 13 May 1985 in Cologne) was a German physician, the second wife of the President of the Federal Republic Walter Scheel and the founder of the German Cancer Aid. Life and work Mildred Scheel was the third child of a radiologist and his American wife. Already as a child, she was very much interested in medicine and often accompanied her father in his practice. The family left the bombed-out Cologne in 1944, and moved to Amberg. After high school In 1950 she started her university medical studies in Munich, Innsbruck and Regensburg. Her first job was as a doctor in Munich. Then she worked in various hospitals and medical practices. In 1963, her daughter Cornelia was born. In 1967 Mildred Wirtz met her future husband in a sanatorium which she was working at that time. The FDP politician was recovering there after a kidney stone operation. On 18 July 1969 they married in Munich-Schwabing and moved to Bonn. In October of that year, Walter Scheel was appointed minister of the exterior. The couple had two children, a daughter and an adopted orphan from Bolivia.