Jack L. Cottey

Former Sheriff Jack L. Cottey

75, fought for safer schools, neighborhoods, and workplaces. Popular two-term Marion County Sheriff and longtime Indianapolis legislator Jack L. Cottey passed away Oct. 21 surrounded by family and friends.

Cottey, 75, was sheriff from 1994 to 2002 after serving more than a decade in the Indiana House of Representatives. He is credited with shepherding many public safety laws and establishing several nationally recognized crime-fighting programs.

A native of Indianapolis, Cottey enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corp after graduating from Southport High School in 1957. Upon being honorably discharged, Cottey joined the Marion County Sheriff's Department and later the Indianapolis Police Department, where he worked his way through the ranks from patrolman to deputy chief of detectives, a position he attained at the young age of 35. He retired from IPD in 1986, when he was selected by then-newly elected Sheriff Joe McAtee to serve as McAtee's administrative officer.

In his later years at IPD and while colonel of the Marion County Sheriff's Department, Cottey also served in the Indiana House of Representatives, where as a citizen legislator he earned a bipartisan reputation of working with both Republicans and Democrats. Two of his proudest legislative accomplishments were authoring Zachary's Law to protect innocent children and establishing Indiana's Amber Alert program for missing children with the help of the Indiana State Police, local chiefs, sheriffs and radio station WIBC.

Cottey was elected Marion County Sheriff in 1994 and re-elected in 1998, each time with large cross-over support of many Democrats, including most major labor unions like the Teamsters, Building Trades, and United Auto Workers.

As sheriff of the most populated county in Indiana, Cottey led an office of about 1,200 employees with a nearly $60 million annual budget. Keeping a U.S. Marion Corps-style daily regimen, Cottey worked 12- to 14-hour days to keep Marion County one of the safest metropolitan areas in the nation. His community policing and crime prevention innovations were often recognized state- and nationwide.

Cottey was honored by numerous crime-fighting organizations -- among them, the Indiana Association of Chiefs of Police, the Indiana Sheriffs Association, Indiana Crime Prevention Coalition, National Association of Town Watch and National Crime Prevention Council.

He was inducted as a 33rd Degree Freemason and recently received his 50-year membership award from Brookside Lodge No. 720 of Indianapolis.

Cottey was named a Sagamore of the Wabash by Gov. Frank O'Bannon and was also a Kentucky Colonel.

In 2001, at age 61, Cottey fulfilled a lifelong dream of completing college. He graduated summa cum laude from Martin University, majoring in criminal justice and minoring in political science.

Cottey is survived by his wife, Christina; and two sons, Jack Jr. and Jason; and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother, Lucille Cottey Smith; stepfather, Charles T. Smith; father, Arthur Cottey; and brother, Carl G. Cottey.

Calling will be at Crown Hill Funeral Home , 700 W. 38th St., from 2 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 28. Brookside Lodge will conduct a Masonic Memorial Service at the funeral home on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Services will be at Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, 1347 N. Meridian St., Indianapolis, at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 29. An escorted motorcade after the funeral will pass the Indianapolis Police Department Headquarters, Marion County Jail and Indiana Statehouse. Entombment will be at the Heroes of Public Safety memorial, which Cottey helped establish at Crown Hill Cemetery. Father James Wilmoth of St. Roch Catholic Church, the Cotteys' home parish, will officiate.

Donations may be made to the American Cancer Society.