William Minehart Zimmerman

Iowa Department of Corrections — Des Moines, IA

Cardiac

End of Watch October 1, 1967

Age 46

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

The Vigil Panel 103 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 13

Incident

Captain William Zimmerman suffered a fatal heart attack minutes after struggling with an inmate at the Iowa Men's Reformatory in Anamosa. He and other officers had to forcibly remove an inmate from his cell in order to move him to isolation. As they attempted to remove him from the cell the man struggled with the officers and then attempted to hold onto the cell's bars and railings. Minutes after getting the man into isolation Captain Zimmerman collapsed. Captain Zimmerman had served with the Iowa Department of Corrections for six years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and four children.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-IA-CB49A791
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Corrections Captain Zimmerman gave the Iowa Department of Corrections 6 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of Iowa. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Corrections Captain Zimmerman.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department Iowa Department of Corrections

Location Des Moines, IA

Platform Identity idcorr.polk.ia.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 1, 1967

Tour of Duty 6 yrs

Age 46

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Weapon Person

Offender Not available

Corrections Captain William Minehart Zimmerman is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In IA, 11 of 226 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 4.9% of this state's fallen. That is 0.9 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Iowa Department of Corrections, 1 of 14 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 7.1% of this agency's fallen.

Iowa Department of Corrections

of 14 officers

7.1% Cardiac

IA — Statewide

of 226 officers

4.9% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac