Longtime HUPD Officer Dies at 62

George F. Pierce, a Needham native who served on the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) for 33 years, died of liver cancer last Wednesday at his home in Natick. He was 62.

Pierce became sick approximately a year and a half ago but he only officially retired from HUPD two days before he died.

Colleagues remember Pierce as a down-to-earth man who enjoyed golf, music and poetry, but they say his loyalty and love for his family and his job surpassed his other interests.

“He was a great family man, very much devoted to his wife and children,” said Maureen Morrison, a HUPD officer in the Longwood Medical School campus who worked the shift before Pierce. “He was the chief cook and bottle washer there.”

Morrison, who had known Pierce for 20 years, said she believed Pierce cheerily worked the midnight to 8 a.m. shift throughout his 33-year HUPD career.

“He was my relief at midnight,” Morrison said. “He was always early...he was always pleasant, always had a smile on his face.”

His dedication to his job was paramount, Morrison said. Pierce would never just sit in the police car while on duty—he would actively walk around and check doors.

“He fought this disease so courageously,” Morrison said. “He was taking chemo and he still worked. His job was his life, in a way, too...[the department] is like a family.”

Morrison said that when others would attempt to compliment Pierce, he would reply, “I’m not that wonderful, you are.”

“He was humble to the core,” she said. “He would take a collection for someone who was down and out sick. He was there with the money to lend a helping hand.”

She said Pierce relished telling funny stories and remembers when Pierce chased an individual who had smashed a window in Harvard Square. He had lost track of the suspect, and Morrison said the rest of the officers had cleared out and she and Pierce were still in the area.

“All of a sudden we heard the guy talking in the bush,” she said. “And we start laughing and George went in and arrested him. I guess it was neat we dilly-dallied.”

In addition to his passion for golf and caddying, Morrison said Pierce also had one dog and one cat, loved animals and would always come into work eager to talk about his dog’s crazy antics.

He also enjoyed biking and listening to music.

“Pink Floyd was one of his favorites.” Morrison said. “And he loved the old Duke of Earl stuff. He loved the oldies.”

HUPD Officer James P. Sullivan said he met Pierce in the late 60s when he patrolled Longwood, and went to eat lunch in the cafeteria at the Children’s Hospital where Pierce was working as a security guard.

“I made regular visits,” said Sullivan, who joined HUPD in 1966. “He and I were very good friends. He’s a man of solid character, a man of principle. He’s got a lot of dignity about himself. And I feel the same way today, even though we buried him.”

When Pierce decided to apply for a job with HUPD, he asked Sullivan for a reference. Sullivan readily agreed.

“The thing I’ll always remember is that he showed great consideration for his fellow workers,” he said. “He did a lot of little things that really made a difference”.

Sullivan said Pierce used to show him poems he would write on the side.

“The thing he loved to do was sit down and write little poems, just general poems about life” he said. “Once in a while when he had some thoughts he would try to put them on paper.”

Sullivan added that a few of Pierce’s poems were read aloud at his funeral Tuesday.

Pierce wrote an e-mail to all of HUPD on Aug. 12, entitled “The Last Ride Home,” in which he reminisced about his time as an officer and anticipated his retirement.

“You might think that this would be a time of great joy for me,” Pierce wrote.

“However, I know that this will be a time of great sadness for me instead...I have always prided myself with being there for my brother and sister officers and the Harvard community when needed.”

He wrote that he realized his cancer was getting worse, and that he didn’t consider his future “promising.”

“One thing that I have confidence in is that when I meet ‘God’ and he asks me if I have done my duty to my family, friends and community, I can answer that with the exception of a few mistakes, I have done my duty,” Pierce wrote. “I leave it up to you now to take over where I left off and do your duty with compassion and the spirit of giving to all those that you meet in life.”

Pierce, an only child, lived in Natick for the last 28 years. He served with the Army Reserves from 1963-1969.

Pierce is survived by his wife of 39 years, Helen, his son, David, and his daughter, Dianne.

A funeral service was held on Tuesday in Natick.

—Staff writer Hana R. Alberts can be reached at alberts@fas.harvard.edu.