One of genealogy's unsung heroes passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, July 30, 2011. Keith Zimmer's name may not be a household word amongst genealogists, but thousands of people researching St. Louis ancestry have used his work.
Keith Zimmer worked at the Central Library in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, where he indexed obituaries and death notices in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the St. Louis Argus. He also created an index for local military personnel who were killed in action, missing in action or who were prisoners of war in World War I or II. The indexes are available on the library's website, slpl.org.
Mr. Zimmer always worked at the library. The oldest of three children, he started shelving books at the library in 1966 while still a student at McKinley High School. After graduating, he became a full-time clerk in December 1970 and he remained an employee of the library for the rest of his life.
Ironically, one of the first obituaries that Keith Zimmer did not index was his own. He was updating the index last Saturday when he collapsed. He died a few hours later at a local hospital.
You can read more in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch web site at http://goo.gl/W7wSL.
A brief obituary and an online guest book may be found at http://goo.gl/EktL5.
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