Ursula Lehr

Ursula Lehr née Leipold (5 June 1930 – 25 April 2022) was a German academic, age researcher and politician.

Ursula Maria Leipold was born in Frankfurt on 5 June 1930;[1] her father was a banker, and she grew up with two younger siblings.

[1] In 1954, she was promoted to the doctorate, with a dissertation "Beiträge zur Psychologie der Periodik im kindlichen Verhalten.

She was habilitated by the faculty of philosophy in 1968, writing "Die Frau im Beruf – eine psychologische Analyse der weiblichen Berufsrolle" about the psychology of working women.

She was an advisor to Lothar Späth, then minister-president of Baden-Württemberg, who initiated that she was called to the first chair of gerontology in Germany, at the University of Heidelberg.

In 1995, she was the founder of the German centre for research on aging (DZFA [de]) of the University of Heidelberg,[6] and headed it until 1998.

She was elected the head of the German National Association of Senior Citizens' Organizations (BAGSO) in 2009, was reelected to the post in 2012 for three more years, and served as vice-president for the following period.