Edward O'Grady II

Edward O'Grady II (August 20, 1948 – October 20, 1981) was a Nyack police officer who was killed in connection with a 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car (see Brinks Robbery (1981)). He left behind a wife and three children. O'Grady was born in Nyack, New York. After graduating high school, he joined the United States Marine Corps and served two tours of service in the Vietnam War. O'Grady joined the Nyack Police department after his discharge and also worked as a volunteer fire fighter with the Nyack fire department. In 1976, O'Grady was promoted to sergeant, the youngest person in the history of Rockland County, New York to achieve that rank. At the time of his death, he was enrolled at St. Thomas Aquinas College and was close to receiving his bachelor's degree in criminal justice. He was survived by his wife and three children.^[1] His son, Edward J. O'Grady III, went on to join the United States Navy, graduating from the United States Naval Academy in 1997.

During the 1981 robbery of a Brinks armored car by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground, O'Grady was shot several times^[2] with an M16. Ninety minutes later, he died on a hospital operating table. Afterwards, a scholarship fund, the O'Grady-Brown Memorial Scholarship Fund, was established on their behalf which is still in operation today.^[3]

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