After sadly hearing that Daniel H. “Skip” Mahan, Jr. 76, passed away on August 17, 2022, we reflected on some of the public safety leader’s accomplishments. Throughout his adult life, as a deputy sheriff, state trooper, police chief, firefighter, and emergency manager, Skip served the community on the frontline. Along the way, he marked several firsts, modernizing agencies and establishing new initiatives.
As a teen, his career started with the Delaware fire service, and that was followed by a tour of duty in the Marine Corps. But as soon as his military obligations were completed, he joined the ranks at the Cecil County Sheriff’s Office. Then in 1968, the 20-something enlisted with the Maryland State Police. On the state force, his responsibilities grew and as a corporal, he commanded the newly established resident trooper program.
This was when the sheriff’s office was stretched thin so the county commissioners established the program in 1976, contracting with the state to provide 4-troopers to supplement county police patrols. The State Police selected Corporal Mahan to establish the patrol and supervise the force, which eventually grew to 10 troopers.
In 1980, the first director of Civil Defense, John J. Ward, Jr. retired after serving as the local official responsible for planning for a nuclear attack for 29 years. Mr. Ward established the office in 1950, but after overseeing the county’s response to the Cuban MIssile Crisis, Three Mile Island, and much more, the 80-year-old retired in October 1979. Following a search for the agency’s second governor-appointed leader, the county commissioners recommended Skip, and Governor Hughes appointed him to the post.
It was at a time when civil defense across the nation was undergoing many changes – shifting away from a sole focus on programs designed to reduce civilian deaths from a nuclear attack. Skip assumed leadership of an agency that had an 8-person communications staff to handle emergency calls and a secretary to assist the director. Other staff members were volunteers. But Three Mile Island and the changing nature of risks placed a greater emphasis on natural disasters, chemical emergencies, and transportation accidents.
The News Journal picked up on that theme as Mahan worked to bring emergency management into a new era. when a reporter wrote:
If someone asked Daniel H. Skip Mahan to describe in a word what has been happening with Cecil County Civil Defense since he became its director a month ago, he probably would say change. The Civil Defense office in the basement of the county courthouse just isn’t what it used to be. Gone is John. J. Ward, Jr. the county’s first civil defense director, who served from the office’s creation in 1950 until his retirement in June at the age of 80. . . . Gone are old civil defense emergency plans, currently being reviewed and updated. All have been replaced in the new Mahan Civil defense office, the agency that coordinates response to county emergencies.
Following Skip’s 1985 resignation from the agency that became Cecil County Emergency Services, he held several other public safety leadership posts including the Director of the Cecil County Detention Center. From 2000 to 2003, he was the Elkton Police Chief. Later, he held positions with state emergency services and the National Guard.
Throughout Daniel H “Skip” Mahan, Jr’s productive life, he continued serving in the volunteer fire service. He was past president of the North East Fire Company, and an officer with the Perryville Fire Company, all while also holding leadership positions with the Maryland State Firemen’s Association .
Skip contributed to greatly modernizing public safety in Cecil County and he will be missed.
