Rudolphus (Ruud) Franciscus Marie Lubbers (born 7 May 1939 in Rotterdam) visited the Canisius College in Nijmegen and studied Economics at the Netherlands School of Economics (the predecessor of Erasmus University Rotterdam). As suggested by the title of his 1962 thesis - "The influence of differing productivity trends in various countries on the current account of the balance of payments" - his main interest was in monetary affairs. He originally planned an academic career, but was compelled by family circumstances to join the management of Lubbers' Construction Workshops and Machinery Fabricators Hollandia B.V.

In 1964 he became Chairman of the Young Christian Employers Association, later becoming Chairman of the Catholic Association of Metalwork Employers and a member of the board of the Netherlands Christian Employers Federation.

From 11 May 1973 to 19 December 1977 he was Minister of Economic Affairs in the Den Uyl-government and a member of the Catholic People's Party (KVP). He chose to return to Parliament on the formation of the Van Agt-government in 1977, becoming Senior Deputy Parliamentary Leader of the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the alliance between the KVP and the other two main denominational parties. In the autumn of 1978 he became Parliamentary Leader of the Alliance. From 4 November 1982 to 14 July 1986, from 14 July 1986 to 7 November 1989, and from 7 November 1989 to 22 August 1994, he was Prime Minister of the first, second and third Lubbers-government. From 1995 to 2000 he taught Globalization Studies at Tilburg University in the Netherlands and at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in the United States.

In October 2000 he was elected as the U.N. refugee agency's ninth High Commissioner by the U.N. General Assembly following his nomination by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He succeeded Mrs. Sadako Ogata of Japan, on 31 December 2000.

Honorary doctorate for Ruud Lubbers
On 6 September 2004 Ruud Lubbers received an honorary doctorate from the Radboud University Nijmegen.