Jim Breslin remembered
West Milford. The retired West Milford Chief of Police passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020.
| 17 Sep 2020 | 12:39
Building Inspector Eugene Richards makes a presentation to Jim Breslin when he retired from the West Milford Police Department in 2000. Photo by Ann Genader.
Jim Breslin and the late Mayor John Mulligan make a presentation at a West Milford Township meeting in 1998. Photo by Ann Genader.
Jim Breslin’s high school yearbook photo from 1957.
Jim Breslin had high goals and was willing to work hard to reach them.
When his family moved to Hewitt, he transferred to Butler High School as a sending district student from the Township of West Milford in his sophomore year from Red Bank Catholic High School in Red Bank.
After graduation he joined the Marine Corps, served in the Pacific.
Born in 1938 he grew up in Kearney where his father was an auxiliary police officer. The Breslins joined the annual summer vacation residents in the Greenwood Lake area in 1948 and they became permanent residents in 1953.
His senior yearbook in 1957 notes that his ambition was to be a millionaire. While at high school his activities included dancing, the wrestling club, basketball, ceramics and the travel club, showing his diversified interests.
He graduated from the New Jersey Police Academy in 1962, worked his way through the ranks and became chief in 1973 at age 34. He earned a Master’s Degree in Administration at William Paterson University and also studied at the FBI Academy.
Jim left the force for a time and became West Milford’s Township Manager.
But it was back to police work after he experienced the different kind of pressures that job brought. He enjoyed life, especially when playing golf or tennis and enjoyed traveling to new places. He was proud to earn a pilot’s license and fly his plane.
- Ann Genader
Retired West Milford Police Chief James Breslin’s obituary appears on Page 18.