Michael Joseph Barry

Cambridge Police Department — Cambridge, MA

Cardiac

End of Watch June 13, 1963

Age 53

Tour of Duty 25 yrs

The Vigil Panel 98 ›

Gender Male

Incident Service The Sacrifice Department 11

Incident

Patrolman Michael Barry suffered a fatal heart attack while assisting two escapees into a police wagon at the intersection of Essex Street and Harvard Street.

The two girls had escaped from the mental ward at McLean Hospital earlier in the day. Several nurses from the hospital who were on their day off saw the girls riding bicycles near Harvard Square and alerted Patrolman Barry. He and the nurses followed the girls on foot for over one mile before a police wagon arrived. As he assisted the girls into the car he suddenly collapsed.

Patrolman Barry was taken to Cambridge City Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Patrolman Barry was survived by his wife and daughter.

Survivors

Patrolman Barry was survived by his wife and daughter.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier: BO-US-MA-03E7349A
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

25 years. You could have gone home.
Patrolman Barry gave the Cambridge Police Department 25 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Cambridge community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Patrolman Barry.

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

Agency

Department Cambridge Police Department

Location Cambridge, MA

Platform Identity cambpd.middlesex.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch June 13, 1963

Tour of Duty 25 yrs

Age 53

Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Patrolman Michael Joseph Barry is one of 1,306 officers lost to cardiac events in the line of duty across the full record of this memorial — 4% of all 32,508 officers honored here.

In MA, 44 of 469 officers were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 9.4% of this state's fallen. That is 5.4 percentage points above the national rate of 4%.

At Cambridge Police Department, 1 of 12 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 8.3% of this agency's fallen.

Cambridge Police Department

of 12 officers

8.3% Cardiac

MA — Statewide

of 469 officers

9.4% Cardiac

Nationwide

1,306

of 32,508 officers

4% Cardiac