Nov. 6, 1980 – Aug 23, 2021
Paul E. Fitzpatrick Jr. was a man of few words and not one to brag. The Buffalo police detective showed his kind heart in quiet, humble ways, said his sister, Jenny Hart.
She recalled the time her brother learned a nursing home nurse who'd been taking care of Fitzpatrick's father – the legendary football player and coach at Bishop Timon St. Jude High School – was retiring and going to take their mother and a few others out for a farewell lunch before leaving town.
"They went to Ilio DiPaolo's, and Paul just showed up," Hart said.
He said hello, claimed he was there to buy a gift card and left.
"When the bill came it said your son took care of it," Hart said. "Things like that, he would do all the time."
Mr. Fitzpatrick, a 13-year veteran of the Buffalo Police Department, died unexpectedly on Aug. 23. He was 40.
Mr. Fitzpatrick was born and raised and lived his entire life in South Buffalo.
He went to Bishop Timon-St. Jude High School, where he played basketball, baseball and football. Like his father, Paul Fitzpatrick Sr., he went on to be inducted into the Bishop Timon-St. Jude Athletic Hall of Fame.
His father was the longtime head football coach for Timon.
"My brother played for my father," Hart said. "I think it was an honor for him to. He wanted to live up to his name and carry on the legacy and make him proud of him."
He approached sports the same way his father did, his sister said.
"He played the game with everything he had," she said. "He was competitive, but he was a good competitor."
Mr. Fitzpatrick graduated in 1999. He helped his father coach football and later, after his father retired, became a coach, too. And then his father would assist him.
Mr. Fitzpatrick was sworn in to the Buffalo Police Department in 2008.
He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather.
"He took my grandfather's badge number," Hart said.
He was assigned to the Northeast District – E District on Bailey Avenue – where he earned a reputation as a hard worker who made a point of knowing everything going on in his patrol area.
"He was so focused on who was doing what, what case we were going after," said Lt. John Sullivan, who was on the same platoon with Mr. Fitzpatrick and rode with him on patrol for several years. They have also been friends since they were about 10 years old. "He just knew everyone and everything."
Mr. Fitzpatrick also had a lighter side, Sullivan said. He was fun to ride with, Sullivan said, and he would jump out of the car while on patrol to shoot hoops or throw a football around with kids.
Sometimes, they would stop at a store in an area where there were a lot of reports of crime.
"We'd just hang out and people in the neighborhood would come in and interact. They loved Paul," Sullivan said.
He was named Officer of the Month seven times by the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association and earned numerous written commendations by his supervisors over the years.
"He got countless guns off the street and made millions of drug arrests," Sullivan said. "He made everyone on our platoon a better cop. That's just who he was."
Mr. Fitzpatrick joined the Underwater Recovery Team in 2016 with Sullivan, after Sullivan decided to sign up, even though neither had any experience with scuba diving.
"I'm not letting you join without me," Mr. Fitzpatrick said to Sullivan. "We both checked it, out and we went and got certified."
In January 2019, Mr. Fitzpatrick made detective – a proud accomplishment. He was assigned to E District and then seven months later, he was assigned to the Narcotics Unit.
"He was the best police officer this department ever had," said Sullivan.
Mr. Fitzpatrick was single and loved to dote on his six nieces and nephews.
He adored his yellow lab, Bird, named after Larry Bird, the basketball great, whom he idolized, along with Mickey Mantle. A few days ago, his sister was sorting through her late brother's mail and she opened a package that contained a new dog tag for Bird that included a list of the basketball player's achievements.
Mr. Fitzpatrick is survived by his parents, Paul Sr. and Jeanne; and his sisters, Jenny Hart, Kerry Enright and Molly Fitzpatrick.
A funeral Mass will be offered at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna.