James O'Neill, Former Yardley Police Chief, Dies

YARDLEY, PA — James J. O'Neill, the former police chief in Yardley Borough, has died, according to borough officials.

According to social media posts by the Yardley Borough Police Department and Mayor Chris Harding, O'Neill died on Saturday.

"With the Yardley Borough Police Department, the Chief served as officer, sergeant, lieutenant, and his last 14 years as Chief," Harding wrote. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire O'Neill family."

O'Neill joined the borough department in 1985, after serving with the Upper Makefield Township Police Department and Middletown Township Police Department. Starting out as an officer, he worked his way up to sergeant, then lieutenant.

He spent his last 14 years with the department as its chief, retiring in 2014.

On the police department's Facebook post, dozens of Yardley residents were sharing warm memories of the former chief.

"We were so incredibly blessed to have Chief O’Neill as our police chief. He genuinely cared about the residents of Yardley," wrote former council member Valerie Mihalek. "I personally was in awe while serving with him on Borough Council how he knew so many of the residents by name as well as the type of help they would need. When we went through a crisis (two major floods in less than one year), he was the calm in the storm ... always looking out for his officers as well as the residents."

Funeral information for O'Neill was not immediately available Monday morning.

Photo courtesy Yardley Borough Police Department