Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Longtime Lauderdale police officer and union chief
Jack Lokeinsky, a longtime Fort Lauderdale police sergeant and local police union president, has died. He was 52.
Lokeinsky was diagnosed with stage four pancreatic cancer last summer and hadn’t been responding well to chemotherapy, said his wife, Jennifer Lokeinsky.
He died Thursday morning at his home in Cooper City.
The third child of four, he moved to Florida from the Bronx in New York when he was young, Jennifer Lokeinsky said. He was dedicated to law enforcement for more than 30 years, beginning his career as a Pembroke Pines police officer when he was 23, she said.
Four years later, after a brief time as a Cooper City police officer, he signed on with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, where he stayed for the rest of his career.
He became president of the Fort Lauderdale Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 31 in 2005, where he worked closely with community leaders and residents.
Lokeinsky made a lot of friends through his charity work, but his humor is what he is remembered for, Jennifer Lokeinsky said.
“He would go to any length whatsoever to get a laugh out of somebody,” she said. “That’s why so many people were so affected by him. He was very much a prankster.”
He coached his two daughters, Jessica, now 29, and Kaitlyn, 26, in various sports while they were growing up. He also enjoyed fishing and golfing, his wife said.
Lokeinsky regularly aired his grievances — against budget cuts, contract woes and state legislation — in letters to the editor.
During a prolonged contract dispute about a decade ago, Lokeinsky battled with then-City Manager George Gretsas. Officers in the union, led by Lokeinsky, protested the city’s lack of a police contract in 2007 and warned of poor staffing and rising crime.
In 2008, he called for the firing of Gretsas during a news conference and announced a union vote of no confidence in the city manager. The vote was 398-6.
He was always a great supporter of the city, said current City Manager Lee Feldman.
“I consider him a true friend,” he said. “He will be missed.”
Lokeinsky was not the type to ask for help, and focused instead on helping others, said Mayor Jack Seiler. When he first became ill, he told Seiler he didn’t need everyone around helping him out.
“I said, ‘Jack, you’ve spent the last three decades being around helping everyone else out,’ ” Seiler said. “His style was not to moan or whine. His style was to take action.”
Seiler and Lokeinsky bicycled together for seven years before he got sick, Seiler said.
One of their last rides together was the Tour de Force in 2014, when they biked 55 miles to honor police officers killed in the line of duty.
Shortly after that ride, Lokeinsky was diagnosed, Seiler said.
“He was a real, true, loyal, dependable friend,” he said. “The work he did for the men and women who serve in our police department will never be forgotten.”