Loki Schmidt, Wife of Former West German Chancellor, Dies in Hamburg at 91

Loki Schmidt, the wife of former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt who built her own reputation as a conservationist, died at the age of 91.

Schmidt died at her home in the northern city of Hamburg early this morning, the city government said on its website. The one-time first lady returned home earlier this month following a foot operation, the Deutsche Presse-Agentur newswire said.

Loki Schmidt accompanied her husband during his eight-year chancellorship from 1974, when Willy Brandt resigned following a spy scandal, through recession and a wave of terrorist attacks at the hands of the Red Army Faction. The two continued to make public appearances together after his rule ended in 1982.

Born Hannelore Glaser in Hamburg on March 3, 1919, Schmidt became a teacher. She married the future chancellor, with whom she’d been a classmate since she was 10 years old, in 1942 while he was a military officer in World War II.

Last year Loki Schmidt was awarded the city of Hamburg’s highest honor for her work focusing on endangered plants. A type of pineapple plant that grows in Mexico, Loki-Schmidtii spec. nov., is named after her, according to the city.


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