By APB Staff Writer
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NYC lost one tough Irish cop from the mean streets of New York from back in the 60’s.
John Timoney, who passed away at the age of 68 was remembered by the NYPD, former governors and fellow police officers at an emotional funeral Tuesday morning at St Patrick’s Cathedral.
NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton said of his long-time friend, the former NYPD First Deputy Commissioner Timoney as a dedicated policeman who combined his street Irish smarts and personality with enough intellectual curiosity to reduce crime and protect his street cops.
“John Timoney was one of a kind. He was also the last of his kind. How fortunate for us. How fortunate for this great city,” Bratton said.
Bratton reflected on Timoney’s rough-and-tumble beginnings, coming to New York from Ireland as a teen with his brother Ciaran Timoney and patrolling the streets as NYPD cops just six years later. Timoney quickly wanted to understand the beat he covered in the South Bronx.
“He took up Spanish. He wasn’t half bad, even with an Irish accent. He probably liked the chase a little more,” Bratton continued.
“With his Irish accent and my Boston accent we barely understood what the other one said,” he joked. “He got the best out of everyone. That was his gift. He understood hard policing. He understood soft policing.”
The funeral started with a procession led by widow Noreen Timoney and their children Sean and Christine, surrounded by hundreds of loved ones, family and police officers.
A soulful rendition of “Ave Maria” moved many in the church audience.
“We say goodbye in a Catholic way to a man of faith, the same way we do it for any other Christian Catholic,” said Cathedral rector Robert T. Ritchie. “St. Patrick’s Cathedral is an appropriate place to say goodbye to John T. Timoney. We thank God for people like John. We ask God to send more people like him.”