BERLIN — Hannelore Schmidt, a former schoolteacher and prominent conservationist who won the affection of Germans as the down-to-earth wife of Helmut Schmidt, the West German chancellor, died on Thursday at her home in Hamburg. She was 91.
Her death was reported by the municipal authorities in Hamburg, the northern port city where Mrs. Schmidt was born. Her health declined after she broke a foot in a fall last month.
Known as Loki, Mrs. Schmidt was a familiar, easygoing presence by the side of Mr. Schmidt, her husband of 68 years, though she was known to dislike ceremony.
Mr. Schmidt, who succeeded Willy Brandt, was chancellor of West Germany from 1974 to 1982. A Social Democrat, he had to contend with a wave of assassinations carried out by the left-wing terrorist group the Red Army Faction. When he agreed to deploy American missiles on West German territory to counter a Soviet buildup in East Germany, there were huge protest demonstrations.
In 1982, Parliament voted him out of office and replaced him with Helmut Kohl, leader of the conservative Christian Democratic Union.
Before the environmental movement took off, Ms. Schmidt, a biologist and amateur botanist, established a foundation for the protection of endangered plants and championed conservation. Flowers in Latin America and Africa were named after her. She was the author or co-author of several books on plants and ecology.
She met Mr. Schmidt when they were schoolchildren; they married in 1942. Both heavy smokers, they were known for lighting up in public and made headlines in 2008 for doing so in a theater that had banned smoking.
Hannelore Glaser was born on March 3, 1919, the daughter of a shipyard worker. When he lost his job in the 1930s, her mother, who had three children, made ends meet by sewing. After finishing school, Hannelore wanted to study biology but could not afford it, so she trained as a teacher instead. Her husband paid for her studies after World War II. She remained a teacher until 1970.
The New York Times
