Tom Haney Jr., a former homicide investigator with the Denver Police Department, who was also brought in to assist on the JonBenét Ramsey murder case, died suddenly on Aug. 19 while playing golf with friends. Haney was 77.

“Tom was a street cop who knew how to connect with every person, no matter what kind of situation they were going through in life,” said Lt. Robert Wyckoff of the Denver Police Department. “He was really respected by every officer, which is unusual in a large department,” said Wyckoff, who called Haney “a great crime fighter.”

Tom Haney Jr. Denver Police

Haney rose to the position of Denver Police Division Chief after starting with the department in 1968. He was an officer, detective, sergeant, lieutenant and retired in 1997. He went on to work as chief investigator for the Denver District Attorney’s Office.

Haney once told a reporter why he got into law enforcement. “I was in high school working at a grocery store, and we got robbed at gunpoint,” said Haney. “And I had a guy point a gun at me, and I thought, you know, that’s just not right. That’s just not any fun. And so I think from there on, it was just, ‘hey, I want to work to keep those people off the streets and help the other people who are getting the guns pointed at them.’”

“He just had a way with people,” recalled former prosecutor Mike Kane, who started his career in the Denver District Attorney’s Office and knew Haney. “He put people at ease,” said Kane, who called Haney one of the best interviewers he had ever seen.

JonBenét RamseyPolaris

“He was just a master at being flexible and listening to what people said. He was really at the top of the pyramid when it came to homicide detectives,” said Kane. Kane found himself working again with Haney following the murder of JonBenét Ramsey. The 6-year-old was found murdered in her family’s Boulder home in December 1996.

In 1998, Haney was recruited to help with the murder case.

“You want to solve it for this baby,” Haney told an interviewer. He spent nearly three days interviewing Patsy Ramsey, JonBenét’s mother.

“Tom really spent a lot of time preparing for that,” said Kane.

Haney attended Cathedral High School and went on to Regis University.

Haney was known for his sense of humor, along with his love of golf, fishing, and hunting.

A funeral mass for Haney is scheduled for Thursday at St. Dominic Catholic Church in Denver.