Former Westchester assistant DA recalled after dying participating in fundraiser swim

A former longtime Westchester County assistant district attorney died while participating at a Long Island Sound swimming event held in Larchmont on Saturday that raises money for cancer research, according to the District Attorney’s office and obituary information.

Patrick Moore, 60, of Yorktown’s Shrub Oak hamlet, went into distress in the water, was immediately brought to shore by safety teams that are alongside swimmers, and CPR was performed, Larchmont police said. He was taken by ambulance to a New Rochelle hospital, but died.

Specifics weren't immediately known on where precisely Moore was when he went into distress and whether it occurred while or after he had been swimming in an event.

Close to 600 swimmers took part in the event. There were reports over the weekend that a swimmer in the event had health difficulties while leaving the water and needed medical attention, including CPR, and left via ambulance where an AED was used. Organizers said Saturday it was the first such incident in at least a decade.

“Patrick valued family, faith, and community, and he will be sorely missed by the many people who loved him,” his obituary said. “Patrick was a devoted grandfather, father, brother, son, godfather, uncle, cousin, and friend, and he never missed an opportunity to be among his large extended family.”

Born in the Bronx, Moore was proud of his Irish-American Heritage from a young age, according to the notice, and “was a skilled bagpiper and founding member of the Kerry Pipers and a proud member of the Bronx Gaelic League, the Ancient Order of Hibernians Division III Pearl River, and the Police Emerald Society of Westchester.” A 1984 Iona College graduate, Moore joined the college’s pipe band and crew team, “and he counted many fellow Gaels amongst his closest friends.”

Moore retired from the Westchester County District Attorney’s office in 2022 as a bureau chief after 35 years.

“The Westchester County District Attorney’s Office mourns the sudden passing of former Assistant District Attorney Patrick Moore, a beloved colleague, mentor and friend,” the District Attorney’s office said in a Facebook statement. “Pat recently retired from a remarkable 35-year career at the Westchester DA’s Office, where he was a devoted and distinguished public servant. For those of us who had the privilege to have worked with Pat, we will always remember his dedication to justice, sharp wit, and generosity of spirit. Even in retirement Pat was doing what he loved most—helping others. Our deepest sympathies are with Pat’s family during this most difficult time.”

In retirement, Moore biked Westchester trails, swam laps, golfed, and hiked, the obituary said. He was also a volunteer, socializing puppies at Guiding Eyes for the Blind. He earned his Gallon Club card from the New York Blood Center, ran the annual Tunnel to Towers 5K, and participated in the Swim Across America charity open water swim. He attended mass regularly at Shrub Oak's St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, the notice said.

This year's Swim Across America open water swim on Long Island Sound benefitted Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Columbia University Medical Center, Cancer Support Team, and Weill Cornell Medicine According to the event's website, this year's has raised more than $1.495 million, which exceeds a $1.4 million goal.

Steven Vandervelden, another retired prosecutor, was a close friend of Moore’s for decades, having joined the Westchester District Attorney’s office a few months apart in the late 1980s.

“He was a lunch pail guy,” Vandervelden said. “He was the kind of guy any organization or corporation would want because he would just show up and do the job every day.”

Moore was head of the gang unit for several years and later the gun unit and Vandervelden recalled him as someone who never raised his voice and always got along with everyone.

He said the irony was that Moore frequently went swimming at a gym during his lunch break.

The two had been scheduled to play a round of golf with another former colleague on Monday. Vandervelden said he spoke with Moore Friday night.

“He said he had never swam in open water, but he was fine, he wasn’t worried about it,” Vandervelden said. “It’s just one of those freak things.”

Moore was well known as a bagpiper, and could frequently be seen playing at funerals, standing alone in his kilt outside the church or on a hill above a cemetery.

“That’s one of the things that makes this so heartbreaking,” Vandervelden said. “He was the one who always did that for others.”

Swim Across America’s Long Island Sound chapter organized the event held on Saturday. Swimmers could choose among 2K, 5K and 10K swims. The event began at Larchmont Swim Club and ended at Larchmont Shore Club. Nearly 60 teams participated, including one from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

The swim, recognized as one of America's top 100 open water swims by the World Open Water Swimming Association, began with 17 swimmers in 1992.

“We began our chapter with a small group of fifteen dedicated swimmers, who recognized the need to raise money to fight cancer and believed that each one of them could make a difference,” Jean Fufidio, the chapter’s executive director, said in Journal News coverage of the event over the weekend. “Fast forward, and SAA-LIS is now in its fourth decade with more than 800 swimmers and volunteers working towards that same goal -- making this a cancer-free world.”

Michael McKinney is a breaking news reporter with The Journal News, Poughkeepsie Journal and Times Herald-Record of Middletown.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Patrick Moore, former ADA, dies participating in charity swim event