Retired Canton Police Chief Ken Berkowitz has died.
Berkowitz, who retired in 2022 after serving as Canton’s police chief for 17 years, died on Saturday, according to preliminary obituary information released by Brezniak Funeral Directors.
The town will not be releasing a statement on his death at the request of Berkowitz’s family.
Berkowitz worked for the town of Canton as a police officer for three decades, retiring from his role of police chief in June 2022, according to a report published that year in The Canton Citizen .
A longtime Canton resident, Berkowitz joined the Canton Police Department as a patrol officer in 1992 and was promoted to sergeant and later lieutenant before being appointed the town’s 13th chief of police in 2005, the newspaper reported.
“To the police officers out there, you’re nothing short of amazing to me,” Berkowitz said during a July 2022 retirement speech in a video posted online.
“To the residents and the people whom I met during their darkest hours, I hope and pray that I was able to erase some of your pain, or at least, make it a little more bearable,” Berkowitz said at the time, in reflecting on his career in law enforcement.