With great sorrow Naturefriends received the news of the death of former President Gerald Mader

Gerald Mader was the President of NFI from 1987 until 1996. During his presidency, NFI moved back to Austria and the Berlin Wall fell. Subsequently, Naturefriends from Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia and the former GDR became part of our movement. In addition, the first contacts to Naturefriends from Senegal were established while he was President and Naturefriends Senegal were admitted as the first African member organisation in 1996.  Gerald Mader was especially involved in peace work – he set up the renowned international Peace University of Schlaining. Gerald Mader will forever be remembered as the peace president and as the one, who significantly extended our movement.