Commander Thomas Peter McGrath
(1951-2025)
Tom was born on October 24, 1951 to Robert H. and Alice (Chaisson) McGrath. He attended Deer Park High School, competed in tennis, and graduated in 1970.
Tom joined the Deer Park Police Department as a Police Cadet in October 1973. By February 1976, he was a Patrolman, and by February 1977 he was additionally serving on the Hamilton County Police Association’s Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) Team. Also in 1977, he was appointed the Department’s Crime Prevention Officer.
Officer McGrath transferred to Amberley Village in 1979 as a Police Officer / Firefighter. After a Deer Park Savings and Loan robbery, where he found and was rammed by the robber, he was honored by the Amberly Village Council in 1981.
He transferred again, this time to the Blue Ash Police Department in March 1989 as a patrol officer. In April 1992 he was working with the Blue Ash Police Explorers, including current Police Chief Roger Pohlman. By December 1997, he was promoted to Sergeant and was appointed Coordinator of the Drug Abuse Reduction Task Force (D.A.R.T.). By 2001 he was also considered the Department’s firearms specialist. Sergeant McGrath retired as a patrol officer on July 2, 2000 with 27 years of service.
He then took command of D.A.R.T. and under his command, D.A.R.T., often working with federal counterparts, made numerous arrests, seized millions of dollars in drugs and cash, and shut down organizations profiting hundreds of thousands of dollars a month in drug sales. Commander McGrath resigned in November 2003, after 30 years of full-time law enforcement service.
He did not finish serving. He took a position with the Madeira Police Department as an Auxiliary Police Officer and went back to school. In 2007, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the Union Institute and University. In 2010 he received a Master of Science degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Cincinnati.
For almost 14 years, from December 2003 to August 2017, he was an Auxiliary Officer for the Madeira Police Department.
While working toward his bachelor’s degree, he was an instructor from July 2005 to August 2007 at the Tri-State Regional Community Policing Institute. After receiving his master’s degree, from July 2011 to August 2016 he was an online instructor for the University of Phoenix.
He also took a Police Officer appointment at the West Chester branch of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center until August 2017.
He finally left law enforcement service after almost 44 years in August 2017 and settled down in central North Carolina.
In 2020 he went to work for Lowe’s in Mooresville, North Carolina, then for U-Haul in Denver, North Carolina until 2024.
Commander McGrath was diagnosed with cancer and died on June 10, 2025 in Denver, North Carolina at the age of 73.
He was predeceased by his son, Sean Andrew McGrath (1981), and brother, Barry A. McGrath. Commander McGrath is survived by his wife, Kimberly A. (Dunn) McGrath; children Dawn (James) Donaldson, Chris (Jessica), Adam (Jamie), and Connor McGrath; grandchildren Jimmy Donaldson, Lyndsey (David) Hajjar, Ashley (Rodney) Leggett, Samantha (John) Landers, Patrick, Katie, Hannah (Jacob) Kimball, and Braeden Cooper; seven great-grandchildren and brother, Robert McGrath.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held on July 12, 2025, at 12:00 p.m. at Crossroads Church at 3500 Madison Road in Oakley. An Irish Wake will follow at MadTree Brewing, 3301 Madison Road. Donations may be made to The Shield, Oceans Future Society, or St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
© 2025 – All rights are reserved to LT Stephen R. Kramer RET and the Greater Cincinnati Police Museum.