Germany’s international broadcaster “Deutsche Welle” (DW) stated that the police suspect Thomas Schäfer died by suicide after his body was found on train tracks near Wiesbaden. He was the finance minister for the state of Hesse, where Germany’s financial center Frankfurt lies.

Schäfer was a member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right Christian Democrats (CDU). He had been active in Hessian state politics for more than two decades and was finance minister for almost 10 years.

Schäfer had been widely expected to succeed state premier, Volker Bouffier, if he decided not to stand for re-election in 2023.

In a statement, Bouffier said that the state’s leadership has received the news with “sadness and disbelief.”

Bouffier also said that Schäfer had been living under considerable worry and stress because of the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“His main concern was whether he could manage to fulfill the huge expectations of the population, especially in terms of financial aid,” Bouffier said on Sunday. “He clearly couldn’t see any way out. He was desperate, and so he left us. That has shocked us, has shocked me.”

“Our sincere condolences go to his closest relatives,” he added.