Ross mourns passings of former police officers Boyd, Freedman

The Ross community mourned the recent passings of two longtime public servants in the township, who died two weeks apart in August.

Howard Boyd, a former Ross police officer and code enforcement officer, died on Saturday, Aug. 16. He was 83.

Ralph C. Freedman Jr., a former police officer, chief and district judge, died Saturday, Aug. 30. He was 80.

Boyd, a lifelong Ross resident, served in the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War, according to his obituary.

He was a Ross police officer for 41 years, from September 1966 until retiring in October 2007. He returned as part-time code enforcement officer in April 2016, continuing until his health prevented him from working eight to nine months ago, Commissioner Dan DeMarco said.

Boyd “handled every situation with kindness and a genuine desire to help,” the police department said in a tribute on its Facebook page. “He was always a peacemaker, bringing calm and fairness to even the most difficult circumstances. Beyond his professionalism, Howard will be remembered for his compassion, his patience and the positive example he set for all of us.”

Boyd served Ross for longer than anyone else, DeMarco said in his tribute.

“There is one word to describe Howard: ‘Love,’ DeMarco wrote in a township newsletter. “He embodied the love Jesus asks of us daily. He did not like to see conflict or disagreements in the community, or among employees or commissioners. He stepped in whenever he could to mitigate and eliminate them. He wanted everyone he encountered in his life and his job to be happy.”

Visitation for Boyd was held Aug. 20 at Lawrence T. Miller Funeral Home in Bellevue. He was buried with military honors Aug. 21 at the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies.

Donations in Boyd’s memory were suggested to the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York or to Animal Friends.

Freedman was named Ross police chief in 2005, replacing Greg Tenos, who retired. Freedman retired in 2011 after six years as chief.

Freedman started as a police officer in Ross in 1966 and rose to sergeant. He resigned from the force in 1982 to become a district judge, serving two six-year terms in the office covering McCandless, Franklin Park, Bradford Woods and Marshall. He returned to Ross as a patrol officer in 1993.

Before going into law enforcement, Freedman played baseball as a pitcher and outfielder for the Kansas City Athletics’ minor league team, the Burlington Bees, from 1962 to 1964. Before leaving baseball because of an arm injury, he got to pitch against Pirates future Hall-of-Famer Willie Stargell during spring training in Florida — getting him out on a pop fly.

Freedman continued coaching baseball and softball teams, boys and girls, and he became an avid golfer, according to his obituary.

Visitation and services for Freedman were held Sept. 2 at Devlin Funeral Home in Cranberry. Donations in his memory were suggested to the Alzheimer’s Association.