James O'Rourke

New Jersey Divison of Fish and Wildlife — Trenton, NJ

Accident

End of Watch June 4, 1925

Age 55

Tour of Duty

The Vigil Panel 49 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 7

Incident

Warden James O'Rourke drowned when the small boat he was in capsized approximately 200 feet from the dam in Boonton Reservoir.

He and other wardens were using large seine nets while conducting an annual fish removal operation in the reservoir. A squall suddenly struck the area and capsized the boat, throwing all of the occupants into the water. The other wardens were able to hold onto the boat, but Warden O'Rourke was pulled beneath the surface due to the large hip-waders he was wearing.

His body was at a depth of 105 feet following an exhaustive five-day search by deep-sea divers who had been brought to the reservoir to assist with the recovery efforts.

Warden O'Rourke had been appointed a game warden only four days earlier. He had previously retired from the Philadelphia Police Department in Pennsylvania.

Thank you for your service,

Dmytro Goloborodko December 12th, 2025

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-NJ-17431FF0
Stewardship: Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
Added to badge.nw: April 2, 2026
Last updated: July 23, 2026

Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.

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Tributes

I never knew you. I am standing here anyway.
Warden O'Rourke served with the New Jersey Divison of Fish and Wildlife.
Thank you for your service. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Warden O'Rourke.

— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993

Agency

Department New Jersey Divison of Fish and Wildlife

Location Trenton, NJ

Platform Identity njdfwcons.mercer.nj.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch June 4, 1925

Tour of Duty

Age 55

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Accident

Warden James O'Rourke is one of 10,088 officers lost to accidents in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 31% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In NJ, 258 of 646 officers were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 39.9% of this state's fallen. That is 8.9 percentage points above the national rate of 31%.

At New Jersey Divison of Fish and Wildlife, 6 of 8 officers on record were lost to accidents in the line of duty — 75% of this agency's fallen.

New Jersey Divison of Fish and Wildlife

of 8 officers

75% Accident

NJ — Statewide

258

of 646 officers

39.9% Accident

Nationwide

10,088

of 32,508 officers

31% Accident