'My father lit up a room.' Webster resident and former Monroe County sheriff's deputy dies in crash

Thomas Doherty was one of a kind.

Mr. Doherty, known as "Tommy" by family and friends, died Tuesday afternoon in a two-car crash in Walworth, Wayne County. He was 62.

"My father lit up a room the moment he walked in," said Doherty's daughter Bridget Turkington, who described her father as "irreplaceable" to those who knew him. "He was always ready to share stories and jokes with anyone who would listen."

Mr. Doherty was a former deputy for the Monroe County Sheriff's Office who worked in the Jail Bureau. He retired in 2016 after more than 25 years as a sheriff's deputy, and more recently worked as a security officer at Webster Thomas High School in Webster.

"To say that he was a devoted partner, father, grandfather, uncle and father-in-law is an incredible understatement," Turkington said, noting that her father was the man you would called when you needed a hand. "He 100% of the time dropped what he was doing to make it happen."

Mr. Doherty, an East High School graduate, was raised in Rochester as part of a tight-knit family of seven children on Winton Road "where he met several lifetimes worth of friends that he still connected with regularly," she said.

When not working or with his family, Mr. Doherty loved playing golf and was a member of the Blue Heron Hills Golf Club in Wayne County. He and his partner Kari Bittner were surveying land in the area to build a new home near the club.

"Rain, sleet, shine, he was 'playing the game' to quote him," she said.

Bittner, 56, who was injured in Tuesday's crash, continues to recover from her injuries at Strong Memorial Hospital. Turkington said that Bittner has been moved out of Strong's Intensive Care Unit. She was in satisfactory condition on Thursday morning, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Funeral arrangements for Mr. Doherty have not yet been announced. New York State Police continue to investigate the crash.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Thomas Doherty remembered as devoted family man