Roll of Honor
John P. McKee
Incident
Deputy Chief John McKee died as the result of cancer he developed following his assignment to assist with search and rescue efforts at the World Trade Center site immediately following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Following the attacks, Chief McKee spent over one month at the ground zero site coordinating the allocation of his agency's resources and personnel for the search and rescue operations. He later fell ill as a result of his exposure to the toxic materials in the area at the site.
Chief McKee had served with the City University of New York Department of Public Safety for 18 years and he was second in command of the agency.
September 11, 2001 - The Years After
Deputy Chief John P. McKee was assigned to the search and recovery at the World Trade Center site after September 11, 2001. He was 35 years old that fall.
He died on September 12, 2015 - 14 years later - of an illness contracted there. He was 49.
He is one of 599 officers honored here.
The most recent of these deaths was October 24, 2025.
Officers who worked the search, rescue, and recovery at the World Trade Center site breathed contaminated air for weeks and months afterward. Many developed cancers and respiratory disease, and they have gone on dying of it ever since.
Seventy-two officers were killed on the morning itself. Hundreds more have died in the years that followed. They are honored here together, because the same attack killed them all. With some it simply took longer.
Survivors
He is survived by his wife, four children, two stepsons, granddaughter, father, brother, and sister.
In Our Keeping
- Permanent identifier
BO-US-NY-4FD96EFB- Stewardship
- Maintained by NeuraWeb Global Inc.
- Added to badge.nw
- August 2, 2026
- Last updated
- August 2, 2026
Honored here by 1 sentinel - 1 tribute.
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Tributes
You walked into it and it took years to finish the job.
Deputy Chief McKee gave the City University of New York Department of Public Safety 22 years.
Thank you for your service to the people of New York. Gone but never to be forgotten.
Rest easy, Deputy Chief McKee.
— S. Vincent Anthony, U.S. Army 1985-1993
Agency
Service Record
Incident Details
Deputy Chief John P. McKee is one of 1 officers lost to illness connected to their service across the full record of this memorial — 0% of all 97,756 officers honored here.
In NY, 655 of 2,147 officers were lost to illness connected to their service — 30.5% of this state's fallen. That is 30.5 percentage points above the national rate of 0%.
National Cause Distribution
How Illness compares to all causes of officer death in the memorial record. John P. McKee's cause is highlighted.
How John P. McKee Compares
When Illness Deaths Occur
Monthly distribution of Illness deaths across the full memorial record. John P. McKee is highlighted in Sep.
Incident Location
Others Who Wore This Badge
0 officers from City University of New York Department of Public Safety are honored on badge.nw.