Timothy O'Hara, 55, police captain

When Timothy P. O'Hara went to son Sean's college graduation in 2014, he did not just . . . go.

He rode his Harley-Davidson Road King, alone, from Hammonton, N.J., to Kansas State University in Manhattan.

The rest of the family either drove or flew, daughter Megan Mulhall said.

"He was the only one brave enough," she said.

He needed a bit of bravery, she said, because "on his way, the skies opened and he had a hailstorm."

On Sunday, May 24, Mr. O'Hara, 55, of Hammonton, who retired in December 2002 as a Hamilton Township, N.J., police captain, died of a heart attack at the home of his mother, Mary Alice, in Delran.

"For at least the last six years," his daughter said, Mr. O'Hara had owned the Road King, and "any chance he had, he was out on that bike."

Before his jaunt to Kansas, she said, the farthest he had gone was Florida, when "he rode down to see his father-in-law in Ocala."

That time, he rode alone. On a later trip in the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, his wife, Laurelle, was sitting behind him, and a couple of his lifelong friends were on an accompanying cycle.

"He was an old-school cop" - firm but fair, said Jim Esposito, who retired as a senior patrolman for Hamilton Township in June 2014.

When Esposito started in 1986, Mr. O'Hara was his supervising sergeant, in a town more rural than it is today.

"A lot of us carried lassos in our cars, because if we weren't chasing the bad guys, we were chasing cattle" or other livestock that had broken loose, he said.

"He was the traffic guy for years," Esposito said, so "any time there was a fatal accident, he got called, no matter the time" of night. Especially on the routes to the Shore, he said, "we could have 15 a year."

Born in Camden, Mr. O'Hara graduated from Holy Cross High School in Delran in 1978 and joined the police department in 1981, Mulhall said.

While working his way up in the department, he earned an associate's degree at Burlington County College in 1987 and a bachelor's at Rowan University in 1991, both in criminal justice, and a master's in public administration at Widener University in 1994.

He later taught criminal justice at Widener.

Before retiring from the police, "he handled a lot of the technology and communications," Mulhall said, "and helped modernize the department as far as technology."

After he retired, she said, he studied commercial real estate appraisal and worked for North Star Appraisal Co. in Bellmawr.

"He was a lifelong learner," she said, but "his family was most important."

Besides his wife, mother, son, and daughter, Mr. O'Hara is survived by daughter Laura, two brothers, and two grandchildren.

Viewings were set from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, May 29, and 9 to 10 a.m. Saturday, May 30, both at the Costantino Funeral Home, 231 W. White Horse Pike, Berlin, before a 10 a.m. funeral there, with interment in Greenmount Cemetery, Hammonton.

Donations may be sent to the Burlington County Military Affairs Committee at http://bcmac.info.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.constantino.com.