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Timothy M. O'Hare -- father, husband, Marine, school board member, county sheriff's officer and much more -- died the morning of Sunday, Nov. 20.
He was 50 years old.
Visiting hours will be from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27, at Warner-Wozniak Funeral Home, 470 Colfax Avenue, Clifton, NJ 07013.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated 11 a.m., Monday, Nov. 28, at St. Luke’s Roman Catholic Church on Franklin Turnpike in Ho-Ho-Kus. Entombment will follow in Maryrest Cemetery, 770 Darlington Avenue, Mahwah, around 12:40 p.m.
Born at what was then Englewood Hospital on May 29, 1972, O’Hare, of Waldwick, was graduated from Bergenfield High School before serving with pride and distinction in the U.S. Marine Corps.
He married the love of his life, Lisa Sofio, at St. John's Church in Bergenfield on June 20, 2002, according to his obituary.
While working full time, Tim went back to school and earned his Masters of Science in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken.
He’d worked for the Bergen County Sheriff's Office the past fourteen years, most with the CERT and Hostage Negotiations Unit.
He was successful “thanks to his unique ability in reaching out to people in crisis,” reads an obituary posted by Warner-Wozniak Funeral Home.
O’Hare had also been a member of the Bergen County Sheriff's Honor Guard.
"Many great things can be said about Tim,” Sheriff Anthony Cureton noted, “but those who really knew him agree that he was a man of integrity, character, and a heart filled with the joy for helping others.”
O’Hare was an avid reader and a big sports fan who loved coaching soccer and baseball – as well as any other volunteer activity that involved his two children, Connor and Kaitlyn.
Tim cared for all children, in fact.
He was an active member of the Board of Education for Waldwick High School and this past July received the “Outstanding Instructor Award” from the Bergen County Youth Police Academy cadets.
His selfless nature has been the first attribute that many have mentioned since receiving the news of O’Hare’s death.
O'Hare "always put the children of this town first and foremost" and "wanted what was best for the Waldwick community," the school board wrote in a post.
SEE: Sheriff's Officer, Marine, School Board Trustee Timothy O'Hare Always Wanted Best For Others
The news that O’Hare had been diagnosed with inoperable stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had spread to his liver was incomprehensible.
"This came out of left field...no symptoms, no nothing," he told a friend last year. "To say I was shocked is an understatement...But I am doing everything they tell me..."
As if that weren't cruel enough, O'Hare got COVID in April 2021, which disrupted his treatments.
He was eager to "get back in the ring" once it had passed, he said, "to throw some more punches" at the relentless disease.
"I cannot tell you how much I appreciate everyone offering their support," O'Hare added. "To see the human genuineness of people is totally overwhelming.
"If I lived to 105 and said thank you five times a day it still wouldn’t be enough."
"Tim had a heart of gold. He would do anything for anyone," said Renee Frey. "I'm sure you would agree if you were lucky enough to know him."
Frey met O'Hare when their boys were in kindergarten together.
He told her he liked working the night shift "because he did not want to miss any part of his kids growing up. He said he could sleep later in life but never have these moments again."
Frey promised O'Hare before he died that she'd "help get Lisa and the kids through this and always be there for them."
Toward that end, she's launched a fundraiser: College Fund for Connor & Kaitlyn O'Hare
Contributions in Tim's name can be made to the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research.
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