Analysis By Steve Schifferes BBC News Online economics reporter

When he took office in 1998, the UK press dubbed the lanky Dutchman "Dim Wim".

And during the teething troubles of the European Central Bank (ECB), whose role was to set interest rates across the 12 countries of the eurozone, he was often seen to be mystifying the markets and slow to react to the weakening European economy.

Nor was the initial launch of the euro in 1999 as a currency used by bankers and foreign currency traders any more successful, with the currency rapidly sinking to well below parity with the US dollar.

And Mr Duisenberg has also been adamant that, in order for monetary union to be effective, individual countries in the eurozone had to vigilant about limiting their budget deficits to avoid boosting inflation - a line he stuck to in even at his farewell dinner with European Finance Ministers in Venice on Wednesday.

Mr Duisenberg, who is stepping down at 68 before his eight-year term expires, was characteristically blunt, even about his successor.

"I thought I did it pretty well, so why shouldn't he do the same," he told reporters.

New respect

Nevertheless Mr Duisenberg has gained the grudging respect of the financial markets and many economists and politicians.

NEW ECB PRESIDENT TRICHET I thought I did it pretty well, so why shouldn't he do the same Wim Duisenberg, outgoing ECB President Profile of Jean-Claude Trichet

The euro has soared on currency markets to well above the US dollar, while inflation in the eurozone has remained subdued, and the ECB has cut interest rates sharply to try and boost growth.

"The ECB is becoming, slowly but surely, an institution that is on top of things," said Peter Dixon of Commerzbank.

And the chair of a recent report by the UK's House of Lords into the ECB, Lord Radice, said:

"A lot of the criticism of the bank has been unjustified - it should not be made the scapegoat for the Eurozone's poor performance. It is a young institution which has rapidly built up good credibility."

However, the report called for more open explanation about how it reaches decisions, and a more flexible inflation target.

The ECB, which was set up to enforce financial orthodoxy along the model of the German Bundesbank, has moved in this direction, publishing its economic forecasts, modifying its inflation target and moving away from monetary targets.

As the credibility of the ECB has increased, the euro has rapidly established itself as a major currency, used as a reserve currency by central banks around the world and big companies when raising funds on the bond markets.

And as the public has come to believe that inflation - even in countries like Italy and Spain - is permanently under control, the ECB has been able to keep rates low for a prolonged period of time.

Passionate about the euro

Mr Duisenberg's finest moment came when he presided over the launch of the euro as a cash currency used by 300 million people across the eurozone from 1 January 2002.

Within two months the changeover had been completed, with little of the chaos and confusion that had been predicted by his critics.

His most emotional moment came during his speech introducing the euro coins and notes to the public, when the normally dour banker spoke movingly of the historic project to end war and conflict throughout Europe through economic and monetary union.

Mr Duisenberg was tireless in his promotion of the single currency, reflecting the views of the political generation that had lived through the tribulations of the Second World and then experienced the unprecedented prosperity of the post-war years.

And despite some price-gouging and a growing counterfeiting problem, the public has rapidly accepted the new currency with relatively few regrets.

The German candidate

Mr Duisenberg's appointment to head the ECB came at the behest of Germany, which wanted a central bank insulated from political pressures, and focused solely on long-term stability and low inflation.

But in the highly political atmosphere of the ECB, where Germany has just one vote among 12, Mr Duisenberg often appeared awkward at handling the press and presenting the ECB's case, and disdainful of politicians.

He once famously said "I hear but I don't listen" when asked about pleas to cut interest rates, and undermined other central bank moves to boost the euro by telling newspapers he didn't think they would intervene again.

He admitted that it took him a while to get used to the fact that "the world watches every word you say," and his taciturn style at press conferences at first won him few admirers.

Many of the early problems of managing the central bank are not of Mr Duisenberg's making.

The governing structure of the ECB gives him limited powers as against the central bankers from the 12 eurozone countries, compared with the absolute power Alan Greenspan is able to wield at the Federal Reserve.

And he also inherited the much-criticised stability pact, which had been incorporated in the Maastricht Treaty that established the single currency before he took office.

Dutch roots

Mr Duisenberg is by training an economist, educated at Groningen University. After a spell at the IMF in Washington, he taught at Amsterdam University before becoming an advisor to the Dutch central bank.

He was Dutch finance minister in 1973-77, in a left-wing government during the oil crisis.

It was his role as the head of the Dutch central bank for 11 years, when he presided over the country's economic miracle, that made his reputation.

The combination of stable prices and interest rates, low unemployment, and high growth was the model he wanted to apply to Europe.

Mr Duisenberg is a golfing enthusiast who once missed a meeting with bankers to compete in a Spanish tournament.

He has married twice, with three grown-up children.

His vocation is as a true European: multi-lingual, he lives both in Frankfurt and Amsterdam while having a holiday home in France.