German Chancellor Angela Merkel's father has passed away at the age of 85, the chancellor's office said.
Merkel cancelled her attendance to a scheduled campaign rally, ahead of elections in a state, Xinhua reported.
Horst Kasner passed away on Friday. Born in Berlin in 1926, he studied Protestant theology and become a Protestant pastor.
After living in the West German city of Hamburg for many years, Kasner moved to the East German town of Templin, some 80 km from Berlin with his family in the 1950s. Merkel spent her childhood there.