2024-01-10 20:33:25
Death
Lucerne’s former mayor Franz Kurzmeyer has died
Franz Kurzmeyer, Lucerne’s mayor from 1984 to 1996, died on Wednesday morning at the age of 88.
Former mayor Franz Kurzmeyer died on Wednesday morning at the age of 88 in the Sonnmatt Lucerne residence in the presence of his family. His three children wrote this in a message. Kurzmeyer worked for the Lucerne courts for many years; first as a senior court clerk, then as a district judge, district court president and finally as chief judge of the canton of Lucerne.
From 1971 he politicized for the FDP for five years in what is now the cantonal council, and from 1984 in the city council. In the same year he became mayor following the unexpected death of party colleague and predecessor Matthias Luchsinger. Kurzmeyer remained in office for twelve years.
Franz Kurzmeyer at the opening of the Lucerne Festival in the KKL 2018 (3rd from r) together with Thomas Held and Rosie Bitterli Mucha.
Image: Jakob Ineichen (Luzern, August 17, 2018)
A drastic event that greatly affected him as a Stapi was the fire on the Chapel Bridge in 1993. Years later, he revealed to our newspaper that he only heard regarding it from the radio while shaving the following morning. Because he forgot to activate his emergency phone, he didn’t hear anything when the police called him that night.
During Kurzmeyer’s time, the plans for the Lucerne Culture and Congress Center were also drawn up; he is considered the “father of the KKL”. In 1994, the people of Lucerne said yes to the construction. Kurzmeyer’s comment at the time: “Ech ha Fröid.” What he also always advocated for was a progressive drug policy. Many people disliked that. “I was often attacked because of the drug policy at the time,” Kurzmeyer once said. In 1993, the population rejected the continuation of the lounge and care room for drug addicts that he had initiated.
Kurzmeyer was known for always putting people first. He was a liberal with a heart for everyone. Or as he said: “All groups have the right to maintain contact with them.” He also showed social commitment as part of our LZ Christmas campaign. When it was founded in 1996, Franz Kurzmeyer was the first president of the advisory board to examine the applications. (lf)
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