Former Police Chief Mourned In Bensalem

BENSALEM TOWNSHIP, PA —The township and law enforcement community is mourning the loss of its former police chief of five years.

Theodore R. Zajac, Jr., formerly of Perkasie, passed away on Friday, March 8, in Saucon Valley Manor in Hellertown. He was 81.

Zajac served as Bensalem's police chief for five years until retiring in 1989. He was a member of the Bensalem Township Police Department for 25 years, according to his obituary.

A policeman most of his life, Zajac worked as a security officer for the Pennridge School District for 15 years until 2017 after he retired from Bensalem's police force.

Zajac served in the U.S. Navy from 1960 to 1966.

Assigned to the USS Constellation (CVA-64), he was part of the very first crew, taking it on its maiden voyage in 1961.

He was a member of the Hartzell-Crouthamel American Legion Post, #280, Perkasie, and the Bensalem VFW Post #9220, Bensalem.

Born in Philadelphia, PA, he was the son of the late Theodore R. Sr. and Lucy (Puzycki) Zajac. A 1960 graduate of Father Judge High School, Philadelphia, he earned his associate's degree from Bucks County Community College, Newtown.

He later graduated from the FBI Academy, Quantico, VA in 1978.

Zajac was a member of St. Agnes Catholic Church, Sellersville, where he was active with the Silver and Gold club. A 4th Degree member of the Knights of Columbus, he was instrumental in starting and writing the charter for the Knights of Columbus at St. Agnes Catholic Church. He was also a member of the BCABVI Lions Club in Newtown.

He was the loving husband of Patricia A. (Buchan) Zajac. The couple would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on April 11.

Surviving with his wife are three children, Cynthia Moyer and her husband Ronald, of Hilltown, PA, Dr. Theodore R. Zajac, III, of Schnecksville, PA and Patricia Bearce and her husband Robert, of Newtown, PA; seven grandchildren, Nicole Winters and her husband Joseph, Scott Moyer, Kirsten Vitelli and her husband Vincent, Wyatt Bearce, Mason Bearce, Walker Bearce and Logan Bearce; three sisters, Lorraine Kirk and her husband John “Jack”, of Lewes, DE, Phyllis Franz and her husband Charles, of Amelia Island, FL and Loretta Hill and her husband Gary, of Bensalem, PA.

His funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, March 16, at St. Agnes Catholic Church, 445 N. Main St., Sellersville, where family and friends may call from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.

Interment with military honors will follow in St. John the Baptist Catholic Church Cemetery in Haycock.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Agnes Catholic Church, 445 N. Main Street, Sellersville, PA 18960, or the American Diabetes Association, P.O. Box 7023, Merrifield, VA, 22116-7023 or www.diabetes.org/donate.

Arrangements are by the Suess-Gahman Funeral Home and Crematory in Perkasie.