Former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, who is credited with guiding West Germany through economic turbulence and Cold War tension in the 1970s and early 1980s, has died at the age 96.

Schmidt's doctor, Heiner Greten, told the state news media that he died Tuesday afternoon in Hamburg, according to CBS News. The doctor declined to go into any further detail.

In addition to guiding West Germany through troubling times such as economic turbulence and homegrown terrorism, he was also an architect of the European Monetary system, which linked EU currencies and was a key step on the path to the creation of the euro, according to the BBC.

The center-left Social Democrat led West Germany from 1974 to 1982, when he lost power to conservative Helmut Kohl, reported CNN. He remained politically active even after leaving office, going on to become an iconic elder statesman, weighing in on Germany's political debates into his 90s.

He will be remembered as one of the most popular German leaders since World War II.