More than three years ago, Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant Norman Zuk faced a task he had performed many times in his long career. “Too many times,’’ he told his family.

Lieutenant Zuk had to tell the parents of Danvers High School math teacher Colleen Ritzer that their 24-year-old daughter was never coming home.

It was the last major case of his career and one of the most brutal he had ever investigated. At Danvers High, from which Lieutenant Zuk himself graduated in 1972, the young teacher had been stabbed to death with a box cutter and her body hidden in a recycling bin. Her 14-year-old student Philip Chism was later convicted of rape and murder.

Lieutenant Zuk, who was a state trooper for 34 years and had lived in Danvers, died Friday in Brigham and Women’s Hospital from complications of a bone marrow transplant. He was 62 and had been diagnosed in 2014 with a form of cancer known as myelodysplastic syndrome, or MDS.

“Norman was a long-time friend who devoted his entire life to law enforcement and his family,’’ said Jonathan Blodgett, who is the district attorney in Essex County, where Lieutenant Zuk led the detective division since 2009.

“He was an exemplary law enforcement officer who zealously pursued justice on behalf of victims of crime,’’ Blodgett said.

Known as a soft-spoken man with an easy smile and a dry wit, Lieutenant Zuk took the State Police exam on a whim in 1981. His younger brother, Greg, had signed up all four Zuk siblings to take the test, without asking for their permission.

Greg, a retired Miami-Dade Police officer who lives in Deerfield Beach, Fla., conceded that it was a cheeky move, but said it was logical. The economy was foundering then and the Zuk family had a deep tradition of public service. The siblings’ father, Peter, was a state trooper, and so was their uncle Julian, who was a lieutenant colonel and headed the force in the 1960s.

When the test scores came back, Lieutenant Zuk had reason to give up on his carpentry business and put on the State Police blue uniform. He scored in the top 2.5 percent, far better than his siblings, according to his family.

He became a detective in 1985 and was promoted to sergeant in 1996. He worked in the anti-terrorism unit based at Logan Airport from 2001 to 2003 before climbing the ranks in the State Police detective unit in Essex County.

“Norman had the stoic silence of his father and the compassionate heart of his mother,’’ said his older brother, Peter of Andover. “In making important decisions in his life, however difficult or painful, the last words in the conversation were always, ‘It’s the right thing to do.’ ’’

Born in Danvers, Norman C. Zuk was the second child of Peter Zuk and the former Geraldine Tremblay. He was born with a cleft palate and endured numerous operations, as well as intensive speech therapy.

“I remember seeing him going through the hard things without ever complaining, ever,’’ said his sister, Marilyn Nugent of San Francisco.

“He had somewhat of an appreciation for people who ended up in a bad place,’’ she added. “If they did the crime, they had to do the time. But he appreciated that some people got a bad start.’’

During high school, Lieutenant Zuk was a top athlete who played baseball and football. He has been inducted twice into the Danvers High Hall of Fame. He remained fit and active in later years, playing hockey in a State Police league into his 50s and also played softball.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Western New England College in Springfield.

His marriage to Nancy Carroll ended in divorce. Their son, Andrew, lives in Valencia, Calif., and works in data security.

“If he was on a case, you would not see him for weeks,’’ Andrew recalled, noting that as an adult he more fully appreciates the demands of his father’s work and his drive to help crime victims.

“He was a man of few words but when he said something, it meant a lot,’’ Andrew said.

Their bond strengthened, Andrew said, when Lieutenant Zuk’s grandchildren, Joselle and Sophie, were born. Lieutenant Zuk became a doting grandfather who often flew to California to take his granddaughters to Disneyland, or to fly kites.

Lieutenant Zuk was deeply affected by his investigation into the 2012 disappearance of a 2-year-old girl from a Gloucester beach, his son said. Investigators concluded Caleigh Harrison wandered away and was swept out to sea. “That one really got to him,’’ Andrew said.

Lieutenant Zuk leaves his son, grandchildren, sister, and two brothers. A funeral Mass will be said at 9 a.m. Tuesday in St. Mary of the Annunciation Church in Danvers. Burial will be in Walnut Grove Cemetery in Danvers.

“He loved law enforcement,’’ said Wayne Marquis, a friend and former Danvers town manager who went to high school with Lieutenant Zuk.

“He was a cop’s cop for sure,’’ Marquis said, “but he had that other side, that compassionate side, and I think it helped him tremendously in doing his job and solving crimes.’’

Lieutenant Zuk’s sister recently asked him how he managed to cope with delivering heartbreaking news to the families of victims.

“No one should ever have to hear that kind of thing,’’ Lieutenant Zuk replied.

J.M. Lawrence can be reached at jmlawrence@me.com.