LYNN — One of the area’s newest police chiefs has roots in the city.
Mark Zimmerman, who was sworn in as the North Reading police chief on Wednesday, is a Lynn native and served on the city’s fire department from 1988 to 1993. During that time, he mostly worked on Engine 5 at the Fayette Street station.
Zimmerman graduated from Lynn English High School in 1983 and was on the school’s football team. He joined the Air Force afterward, serving from 1984 to 1988.
Zimmerman said growing up in Lynn instilled in him the importance of serving and creating a close-knit community.
“Everybody helped each other and looked out for each other,” Zimmerman said. “Even though it was a city, we really were community-oriented… I never really had an intention to leave.”
Zimmerman said that although he left the city to raise his family in North Reading after he became a police officer, many of his friends and family still live in Lynn, which he visits often.
“I never really had an intention to leave,” Zimmerman said.
Despite his love for the city he grew up in, Zimmerman has made the most of his time in North Reading, spending nearly 30 years as a police officer in the town before taking over the reins from retiring North Reading Police Chief Michael Murphy.
Zimmerman’s long career as a public servant should not come as a shock, as public service is in his blood. He is the son of Jackie Zimmerman and the brother of John Zimmerman and Robert “Moona” Mullins — all of whom served as Lynn firefighters.
“Coming from a family of public service, service has been a part of me my whole life,” Mark Zimmerman said.
