Edison, NJ mourns death of police officer — a father of 3

EDISON — A veteran police with three children died suddenly Wednesday.

Police Lt. Donald Ship, 39, died at his home following a short illness, Police Chief Thomas Bryan told New Jersey 101.5.

Ship served with the department since 2011 and relaunched the community policing unit in 2020.

Bryan described him as a "great guy who got along with everybody and always had a smile on his face."

"All of us are shocked. He is going to be missed immensely. Last year before he was promoted he was running our community-oriented policing program, which was very successful. He was involved with Toys for Tots and collected more toys and broke a record in doing that for the community," Bryan said.

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Went to school with Edison mayor

He was also part of the Unity Run and Torch Run events.

"It can't be easy for his family and his co-workers. Obviously, our condolences go out to his family and co-workers from New Jersey PBA," PBA President Peter Andreyev told New Jersey 101.5.

Mayor Sam Joshi told MyCentralJersey.com that he attended J.P. Stevens High School with Ship and recalls that even as a teen he wanted to be a police officer.

Funeral arrangements had not been announced as of Thursday morning.