Career
He was the 4th Minister President of Hesse from 1976 until 1987. In this position, he served as the 38th President of the Bundesrat in 1986/87, but only served until the Landtag elections of 24 April 1987. In 1984, he and his Social Democratic Party of Germany lost the majority in the Hesse Landtag.
He managed to implement the first coalition between the Social Democratic Party of Germany and the Green Party in Germany and was reelected, even though he had promised earlier never to work with the Green Party.
In this administration, Joschka Fischer was the first green party minister in Germany. Afterwards, until 2003, he was chairman of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, also known as (FES).
FES was established in 1925 to honor the legacy of Friedrich Ebert, Germany"s first democratically elected President. The Foundation supports education, research, and international cooperation from its offices in Bonn and Berlin and through branch offices in more than 90 countries.
Börner died of cancer at the age of 75 on 2 August 2006.