Obituary

HANOVER (AP) - Police Chief Kurt Schimke suffered a fatal heart attack while playing basketball, and those who knew the vibrant 41-year-old father of two were effusive in their praise for him.

''He was a wonderful human being who was very concerned about everybody,'' said Marilyn Black, chairman of Hanover's board of selectmen. ''His family came first and he was devoted to his children.''

''Kurt Schimke was like a supernova,'' said Earl Sweeney, director of the state Police Standards and Training Council. ''He's one of those bright stars that burned out too quickly. He was an extremely brilliant police chief.''

Schimke collapsed while playing basketball in Norwich, Vt., Tuesday night (January 25, 1994). He was pronounced dead at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon a short time later.

Schimke was Hanover's police chief since 1987. Before that he worked for Fitzwilliam police, first as an officer in 1972, then as chief in 1975.

''It's just shocking and sad,'' said Mary Crooke, Fitzwilliam's administrative assistant. Schimke's death ''is going to affect a lot of people in town.''

Schimke's predecessor in Hanover, James Collins, died in 1987 after suffering a heart attack while helping a motorist on Interstate 89.

''We are all in shock. Kurt had done such a wonderful job in Hanover, his loss will be profoundly felt by the entire department,'' Hanover Town Manager Cliff Vermilya said.

Schimke was well-known among law enforcement officials in the state for using technical innovations in his work and his ability to deal with people in various situations.

He excelled in the college town of Hanover because of his people skills, Sweeney said, who described Schimke as the most charismatic instructor at the state police academy.

''His death is a tremendous loss to the state's law-enforcement community,'' Sweeney said.

He and others said Schimke appeared to be in excellent shape. He was lean, watched what he ate and was athletic; he played basketball each Tuesday night with a group of friends.

Winchester Police Chief James Harrison said Schimke was ''a true professional in the finest sense of the word, and a good friend to all police officers. He's going to be missed.

Schimke grew up in Fitzwilliam and graduated from Monadnock Regional High School in 1970. He first worked as a silversmith, then followed his father's path into the Fitzwilliam Police Department in 1972.

His father, Edwin Schimke, was Fitzwilliam's chief until he died in 1975. The younger Schimke then became chief. The family includes his wife, Barbara, and two children - a boy in first grade and a girl in seventh grade.