University Chief of Police Saul Chafin said Wednesday that he will leave Northwestern at the end of Spring Quarter after nearly six years. A committee is currently searching for his replacement.

Chafin, 65, said his time at NU has been the highlight of a 41-year career that included three decades at several universities.

“This was my finest hour, my finest tenure in terms of academia,” said Chafin, who came to NU from Vanderbilt University in 1996. “I’ve enjoyed this stay the most.”

Eugene Sunshine, NU’s senior vice president for business and finance, said Chafin will be a tough act to follow.

“He’s an absolutely first-rate police chief,” Sunshine said. “I know from meeting and working with other police chiefs at other universities … that Saul is just absolutely in a small select group at universities at the top.”

Chafin will leave after the graduation ceremony June 20. He said he has no immediate plans but intends to travel.

Sunshine said he will appoint the new chief by May or early June. He has named about a dozen administrators, faculty members and students to a committee that will evaluate the applications that come in by next week’s deadline.

Sunshine said about 75 people will vie for the job, including three current UP officers who already have applied. He said he will make his selection after the committee helps whittle down the list.

“It’s going to be with a lot of input, but ultimately I’ll make the decision,” Sunshine said.

The internal applicants will move automatically to the final list of about a dozen, Sunshine said.

Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Michael Perry, who has worked with UP on special projects, said Chafin will be missed.

“The university is losing a very experienced person, a very professional, dedicated person who really worked well with all the agencies around him, especially (EPD).”

Sunshine, who came to NU a year after Chafin, said the chief navigated complex student and administrative interests well during his tenure.

“What he brought was a sense of professionalism to the department and a wonderful, successful emphasis on communication” within the department and the community, Sunshine said.

After beginning his police career in 1961 in Hartford, Conn., Chafin worked in the departments at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, Harvard University and Vanderbilt in Nashville, Tenn.

Now, Chafin said it is time to go. He has talked about retirement for about a year — giving UP time to get used to the idea, he said.

“You go in quiet, you go out quiet,” he said.

The Daily’s Liz Raap and Jesse Abrams-Morley contributed to this report.