John McGinn
Agency patch
Sergeant

John McGinn

Worcester Police Department — Worcester, MA
Cardiac
End of Watch October 15, 1981
Age 51
Tour of Duty 23 yrs
The Vigil Panel 125 ›
Gender Male

Incident

Sergeant John McGinn suffered a fatal heart attack during a stressful situation while on duty. Sergeant McGinn had served with the Worcester Police Department for 23 years.

Survivors

He was survived by his wife and child.

In Our Keeping

Permanent identifier
BO-US-MA-A0201B43
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

23 years. You could have gone home.
Sergeant McGinn gave the Worcester Police Department 23 years. Still answering calls at the end.
Thank you for your service to the Worcester community. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Sergeant McGinn.

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

Agency

Location Worcester, MA
Platform Identity worcpd.worcester.ma.us.gov.nw

Service Record

End of Watch October 15, 1981
Tour of Duty 23 yrs
Age 51
Gender Male

Incident Details

Cause Cardiac

Sergeant John McGinn 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 Worcester Police Department, 3 of 9 officers on record were lost to cardiac events in the line of duty — 33.3% of this agency's fallen.

Worcester Police Department
3
of 9 officers
33.3% Cardiac
MA — Statewide
44
of 469 officers
9.4% Cardiac
Nationwide
1,306
of 32,508 officers
4% Cardiac

National Cause Distribution

How Cardiac compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John McGinn's cause is highlighted.

Felonious
17,623 (54.2%)
Accident
10,088 (31%)
Illness
2,974 (9.1%)
Cardiac
1,306 (4%)
Undetermined
260 (0.8%)
Suicide
256 (0.8%)
vehicular
1 (0%)

How John McGinn Compares

Age at End of Watch
51
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 48.6 years
Years of Service
23
This officer
Avg for Cardiac: 15.6 years

When Cardiac Deaths Occur

Monthly distribution of Cardiac deaths across the full memorial record. John McGinn is highlighted in Oct.

Jan
124
Feb
105
Mar
99
Apr
116
May
115
Jun
95
Jul
94
Aug
104
Sep
109
Oct
121
Nov
113
Dec
111