Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen

German mayor and cooperative pioneer, after whom several credit union systems and cooperative banks have been named. For example, the "Raiffeisen Zentralbank," (RZB), a cooperative bank based in Austria, and operating in Eastern Europe, is named for him. He pioneered rural credit unions.

He was the seventh of nine children. His father Gottfried Friedrich Raiffeisen was a farmer and also served as the mayor of Hamm. Leaving school at the age of 14 he received three years of education from a local pastor before entering the military at the age of 17. His career in the military led him to Cologne, Koblenz, and Sayn.

After an eye disease forced him to resign from military service in 1843 he entered public service. He served as the mayor of several towns: from 1845 he was the mayor of Weyerbusch/Westerwald; from 1848 the mayor of Flammersfeld/Westerwald; and the mayor of Heddesdorf from 1852 until late 1865, when, at the age of 47, his worsening health cut his career short. He had contracted typhus in 1863 during an epidemic which took his wife's life. As his small pension was not sufficient to meet the needs of Raiffeisen’s family he initially started a small cigar factory and later a wine business.

In 1867, he married the widow Maria Panseroth. She outlived him by 12 years and their marriage remained childless. He died on 11 March 1888 in Neuwied-Heddesdorf, shortly before his 70th birthday.