Richmond Police Chief Will Smith salutes and the department’s Honor Guard stands at attention as the family of the late Master Patrol Officer Dextor Lee Gadson Sr. prepares to enter the Joseph Jenkins Jr. Funeral Home last Saturday in the West End for a celebration of his life. Outside the funeral home, Officer Gadson’s photo rests on the windshield of his parked patrol car. The veteran officer, 55, died Monday, May 11, 2020, of health issues unrelated to the coronavirus, the department stated. He may have been best known for his work as a school resource officer at Henderson Middle School.

“Dextor was a great communicator who often used humor and his own way of expressing himself to lighten difficult situations or to give someone a different perspective,” Chief Smith wrote in an email to the Free Press.

“He had a widely varied career, which reflects the broad skills he possessed and what made him such a valuable resource to our youth. Above all, he was a man devoted to his family, a loyal friend. His loss is one that is felt across the department and community.”