Raunheim (dpa/lhe) – The long-standing chairman of the Frankfurt Aircraft Noise Commission and Raunheim Mayor Thomas Jühe is dead. He died on Monday after a serious illness at the age of 59, as the city in the Groß-Gerau district announced on Tuesday. Jühe was best known for his commitment to better noise protection around Frankfurt Airport.

The Aircraft Noise Commission and the Hessian Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens) paid tribute to his work. “Thomas Jühe’s ideas, his clear goal orientation and his empathy for those affected by noise will be greatly missed in Hesse,” said Al-Wazir. The Frankfurt Aircraft Noise Commission is a kind of permanent round table with all those involved and affected around the airport. The neighboring municipalities of the airport have the majority in the committee with an advisory function. Juhe became its chairman in 2003.

Because of his illness, Jühe gave up his mayoral office early in December after more than two decades. A successor is to be elected on March 5th.