A longtime member of the Hoffman Estates Police Department died last week.

Raymond R. Cox served the police department from 1968 until 1992 when he retired as an assistant chief. Cox, 68, had since moved to Kentucky. He died on Thursday, Nov. 19, while in Belvidere.

Cox joined Hoffman Estates police as a traffic officer on June 3, 1968, a year after the police department installed car radios and nine years after the village had been incorporated. He worked himself up to the rank of sergeant in 1976, then lieutenant in 1981. He reached the assistant chief's post in 1986.

"He served with great distinction for over 20 years," Mayor William McLeod said.

Cox served under Police Chief James Taylor. His hobbies included being an avid woods craftsman and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

He was also former director of CenCom 911 dispatch in Lake County and a former resident of Wauconda.

Funeral services will be at 9 a.m. Friday at the Kisselburg-Wauconda Funeral Home, 235 N. Main St. in Wauconda, with an 11 a.m. Mass at Transfiguration Church, 348 W. Mill St., also in Wauconda. Burial will follow at the Transfiguration Cemetery in Aurora.

In lieu of flowers, memorials would be appreciated to a charity of the donor's choice.