William T. McCargo Jr., Cherry Hill fire commissioner, former police officer, and civic advocate, has died at 77
He was a lifelong Cherry Hill resident and helped create an in-school police presence that became a nationwide model. “The key is developing trust in the students,” he said in 1989.
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William T. McCargo Jr., 77, fire commissioner for Cherry Hill Township, former longtime police officer, popular community advocate, and veteran, died Thursday, Aug. 10, of congestive heart failure at Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital.
Mr. McCargo grew up on the Haddonfield side of Cherry Hill and spent his life in the township as a police officer and investigator, fire commissioner, school board member, and former president of the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association. He was one of five sitting fire commissioners and up for reelection in November to a fourth three-year term.
Mr. McCargo ran unsuccessfully as a Republican challenger for Camden County sheriff in 1991. He chaired committees on the state’s Juvenile Justice Commission from 1995 to 1997 and became the first Black acting chairman of the New Jersey state parole board in 1997.
He was elected to an at-large seat on the Cherry Hill Board of Fire Commissioners in 2014, reelected twice, and talked often of the satisfaction he received from public service. “Bill didn’t do it for glory,” said his wife, Pat. “He did it because he loved people, and he particularly loved this town he grew up in.”
Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Shin Angulo said in a tribute that Mr. McCargo’s loss “will leave a profound void in our community.” Township council members called him “a trailblazer and pillar of our community.”
Fire department officials praised his “vast public safety career, military service, civic involvement, and friendship Bill had with so many in our community.”
Mr. McCargo became the third Black member ever in the Cherry Hill Police Department in 1969. He was a patrol officer, investigator, and head of an innovative four-officer high school safety unit until his retirement in 1994. He focused on crime prevention, forged long-term relationships between police and residents, and established in-school police and local watch programs that gained national recognition for their effectiveness.
“We don’t just look at the crime,” Mr. McCargo told The Inquirer in 1987 about the in-school police unit. “We look at the student and what kind of help that student needs. … It’s an ongoing program. It’s not just a 24-hour shot or a one-week shot or a one-year thing.”
Mr. McCargo earned a bachelor’s degree in law and justice management at Glassboro State College, now Rowan University, in 1978, and studied interrogation, crime analysis, hostage negotiations, and other topics at the University of Delaware, University of Louisville, and Princeton University.
He became disturbed when school board members seemed unconcerned about safety and curriculum issues he raised. So he ran for a seat and served on the board from 1988 to 1991. After his term, he continued to raise funds for student scholarships and helped Cherry Hill in 2021 become the first district in New Jersey to require a course in Black history.
“When an entire community gets together through a town watch or drug alliance, you have all these eyes watching. Things can happen.”
He helped establish the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, formerly the Cherry Hill Minorities Civic Association, in 1978 and served as president and was current second vice president. Association officials said he was “the glue and foundation for all of our work and efforts.”
He was also active with the NAACP, Police Athletic League, and other local crime and drug abuse prevention organizations. A colleague said he was adept at “building bridges between our township, school district, and police and fire departments so that all citizens had standing and access to those departments.”
William Thomas McCargo Jr. was born Feb. 10, 1946. He graduated from Cherry Hill West High School in 1965 and served in the Air Force in Vietnam from 1966 to 1969. He dated Pat Brown during high school, and they married in 1966, and had daughters Carla, Erica, Dawn, and Kristin.
Mr. McCargo liked to bowl and tend to his backyard garden. He couldn’t help but dance when James Brown songs were played, and he watched Steven Segal movies as often as possible. His family called him Junie, short for Junior.
“Bill didn’t waste a single second of time or an ounce of talent,” his family said in a tribute. “He leaves a lasting legacy and a community imprint that will forever be remembered.”
His wife said: “He wanted to make a difference. He showed people they could and should participate in their community.”
In addition to this wife and daughters, Mr. McCargo is survived by 10 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, six sisters, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
Visitation with the family will be 9 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 24, at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 1989 Marlton Pike E., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08003. A funeral service will to follow.
Donations in his name may be made to the Cherry Hill African American Civic Association, Box 1404, Cherry Hill, N.J. 08034; and the American Heart Association, Box 840692, Dallas, Texas 75284.