Cops and community residents honored the memory of a fallen cop who led the 63rd Precinct and left his mark throughout Brooklyn.
Deputy Inspector John Fahy was top cop at the stationhouse on Brooklyn Avenue between Avenues I and J in Flatlands for four years before his untimely death in 1996, when his home in nearby Breezy Point caught fire.
Back then, cops honored Fahy’s memory by creating a memorial garden in front of the station house, but over the years the garden fell into disrepair, thanks to a recent sidewalk project.
Captain Michael Deddo, the current commanding officer of the precinct, decided to change all that when he took over in the spring. Under his watch, the garden was spruced up and a new memorial plaque was unveiled on Aug. 4.
“John Fahy was a great man and a great cop,” Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said to the more than two dozen cops and family members on hand at the ceremony. “He started his career right here in the 63rd Precinct and spent most of his time in Brooklyn, walking the beat in the 66th Precinct in Borough Park, the 70th Precinct in Flatbush and the 76th Precinct in Carroll Gardens.”
As he moved up the ranks, Fahy married another NYPD administrator. In fact, he and his wife Margaret were both promoted to Deputy Inspector on the same day, Kelly remembered.
“By all reports, they were a dynamic duo,” the commissioner explained.
Yet both Fahy and his wife’s lives were tragically cut short. Margaret died of cancer just two months before Fahy perished with their youngest son, leaving behind his other two young children John Jr. and Meghan.
“I still miss him just as much as I did when he died,” Meghan, who is getting her master’s degree in middle school education in North Carolina, said. Her older brother John has also left the city and is raising a family in Texas, she said. “It’s so nice to learn that after all these years everyone holds him in such a high regard. It means a lot.”
Deddo said memories of Fahy’s good works as well as his “love for the job” will go a long way in inspiring future generations of police officers.
“His energy is going to fill us with pride and honor,” Deddo said.