Loki Schmidt, German ex-chancellor's wife, dies at 91

BERLIN - Loki Schmidt, longtime wife of former West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, has died. She was 91.

City authorities in Hamburg, where Schmidt was born in 1919 as Hannelore Glaser, said she died yesterday at her home in the northern port city.

Beloved by Germans for her down-to-earth nature and devotion to her husband of nearly seven decades, Loki Schmidt was also a passionate botanist who urged environmental awareness years before "green" became a buzzword.

The Schmidts, passionate smokers, made headlines in 2008 for lighting up in a Hamburg theater that had banned smoking. The pair met as schoolchildren and married in 1942.

Schmidt is survived by her husband and a daughter.

- AP