LYNN — The expression may be “the real McCoy” colloquially, but “genuine” is perhaps a better word to use when describing Dave McCoy.
The 64-year-old McCoy, who died last Sunday and whose funeral is today, wore many hats in his life. And he made friends everywhere he went. Some admired him as a person. Others talked about his career as a law-enforcement officer. And still others spoke of some of the things that made him unique in their eyes.
But all of them remember McCoy fondly.
Lynn City Councilor-at-Large Buzzy Barton was his nephew, “even though I’m older than him. He was my father’s younger brother.”
He recalled McCoy as a very good high school distance runner, and that discipline he learned from running cross country extended into his personal life.
“He was always a man of his word,” said Barton. “And he was a hard worker, and a dedicated family man.”
And, said Barton, the word “family” wasn’t confined to blood relatives either.
“Anybody in his circle,” Barton said.
McCoy made several stops during his law enforcement period, and somehow he always came back to it. He was an MDC officer, then a lieutenant for the MIT Police, and a captain for the UMass Lowell Police.
One of his classmates at English was McManus, who asked McCoy to be his chief of staff. Later, he became the first head of security for Lynn Public Schools. After that, he was deputy superintendent at the Essex County Sheriff’s Department. At the time he died, McCoy was working in customer service for AMTRAK at South Station in Boston.
“He had a lot of titles,” said Barton. “I used to joke around with him that he couldn’t hold down a job.”
Barton also recalled that McCoy liked to eat almost as much as he liked to work.
“Whenever my sister (Patricia) was cooking something, Dave would be there,” Barton said, “and he brought his own Tupperware containers so he could take home leftovers.
“He was skinny,” Barton said, “and I used to ask him ‘where do you put all that food?’ I also used to call him ‘Mr. Tupperware.'”
Of course, said Barton, McCoy took the ribbing with good humor and good grace. And that is what people will remember most about him — his good, but gentle and kind humor.
“He was just a good man,” said Jansi Chandler, who was Lynn’s director of community development while McCoy was chief of staff for the late Mayor Patrick J. McManus.
And, said attorney and retired State Police Lieutenant Kevin Calnan, “he was a good cop,” harkening back to the time when both were Metropolitan District Police officers.
“Dave was a great guy to work with during the McManus administration,” said Deirdre Dorgan, whose sister, Debra, was married to McManus. “I was only in my early 20s at that time, so he taught me a lot, and he was someone who I always looked up to.”
“The community lost a good friend,” said Jim Cowdell, executive director of EDIC/Lynn. “He was a true gentleman who was well-respected and loved by many. He was a great person and he will be very much missed.”
Dorgan echoed that sentiment.
“Dave loved his family and friends and always had a smile on his face,” she said. “He was respected and loved and I am glad that I had the privilege of knowing him. He will be truly missed.”
