Scholarships Honor the Legacy of Newark's Fallen Police

On Nov. 9, 1997, Officer Dewey J. Sherbo III of the Newark Police Department was killed when his patrol car was deliberately rammed by another vehicle during a chase. Officer John F. Gottfried lost his life on Nov. 28, 1980 while attempting to stop a bank robbery. .

In life, they all served the people of Newark. And in a sense, they will continue to do so.

On Friday a ceremony was held at at the Fifth Precinct headquarters on Clinton Avenue to launch the department’s memorial scholarship fund, with the awards all named in honor of fallen city police. The scholarships will be given out annually, said Police Director Samuel DeMaio.

The awards, which will benefit Newark youth attending college or private high schools, are meant to foster stronger links between the community and the police, said Chief Sheilah Coley, as well as help local youth get ahead in life.

Just as important, Coley said, the scholarships help the department fulfill a profound obligation to the relatives of their slain comrades.

“We’re helping kids from Newark further their educations and we’re keeping their memories [of the officers] alive,” Coley said. “We promise their families we’ll keep their memory alive, that they’re not forgotten.”

DeMaio, himself the son of a Newark police officer, said, “I’d want something in his memory” if his father had died while serving on the force. 

The scholarships are funded by a variety of charity events, including a golf outing and ball games with the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Newark Fire Department.

Scholarship recipients expressed a deep sense of honor to be chosen for the inaugural awards.

Yasim Simmons, a communications major at New Jersey City University who received the scholarship named for William C. Johnson, said it was a “privilege” to receive the award honoring the memory of the officer killed in Simmons’s own South Ward neighborhood.

“I thank the family and the organization for the opportunity to use the scholarship in his name to do something great,” Simmons said.

Simmons’s father Frank recalled how shocked the neighborhood was in the wake of the shootings that claimed Johnson’s life a little more than a year ago. The scholarship, the elder Simmons said, was a way “to do his name some justice.”

The Simmonses got a chance to honor Johnson family members in person Friday. Among the guests were the deceased officer’s cousin, Latanya Boughton, and her niece Madeline.

“It’s a great day, it’s encouraging...he would have more than approved,” Boughton said.

Along with Simmons, the other scholarships and their winners are:

The Detective Michael Morgan Scholarship, Crystal Bonilla
The Sergeant Tommaso Poplizio Scholarship, Dante Eda
The Officer Melvin Lisojo Scholarship, Morgan Dixon
The Officer Dewey Sherbo III Scholarship, Nigel Thompson
The Officer John Sczyrek Jr. Scholarship, Tyree Chapman
The Officer John F. Gottfried Scholarship, Bruno Fernandes
The Officer Arthur L. Williams Scholarship, Edwin Ramirez
The Officer John W. Snow Scholarship, Jimmy Rivera