10 Facts About Thomas Klestil

Thomas Klestil was elected in 1992 and re-elected in 1998.

Thomas Klestil studied at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration and received his doctorate in 1957.

Fluent in English, Thomas Klestil served as the Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States prior to his election as president.

Thomas Klestil gave his support to the development of Kiryat Mattersdorf, a Haredi Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem founded by the Mattersdorfer Rav, Rabbi Shmuel Ehrenfeld, in 1959 in memory of the Siebengemeinden of Burgenland that were destroyed in the Holocaust, Mattersdorf being one of them.

Thomas Klestil met his future wife Edith Wielander at the age of 17 in 1949.

The couple separated in 1994, when Thomas Klestil made public that he had a love affair with diplomat Margot Loffler.

The couple divorced in September 1998, and Thomas Klestil married Loffler three months later.

When Thomas Klestil died in 2004, Wielander attended the funeral service.

Thomas Klestil suffered from health issues related to his lungs, including a serious illness in 1996.

Thomas Klestil was the fifth president of Austria to die in office since 1950.