By Mark Sullivan, Worcester Telegram, July 24, 2010
David Kalagher, who died in May, is photographed during the harvest of the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction in West Boylston in September. A garden at the jail will be dedicated in his memory on Friday.
WEST BOYLSTON – He called himself a “triple-decker farmer.”
Lt. David Kalagher of the Worcester County Sheriff’s Department was a blue-collar Worcester native who above all loved working the soil and growing vegetables: zucchini, green beans, tomatoes, green peppers, summer and spaghetti squash, and cabbage.
The 11-acre farm he managed at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction produced thousands of pounds of vegetables used in the jail and delivered to area food banks.
Lt. Kalagher died of cancer on May 24 at the age of 62.
On Friday, the David Kalagher Memorial Garden will be dedicated in his memory at the Worcester County Jail and House of Correction. The ceremony is to be held at 2 p.m. at the jail, 5 Paul X. Tivnan Drive.
“Recently retired, Lt. Kalagher served over 35 years with our department,” Sheriff Lew Evangelidis wrote in a tribute posted to Facebook.
“A beloved employee and colleague, David worked many years on the blocks but his greatest love was the farm at the Sheriff’s Department.
“Under his green thumb and guidance, the organic farming program at the jail flourished, providing thousands of pounds of fresh organic vegetables at the jail, as well as helping those less fortunate in our community every year.
“Lt. Kalagher even after his retirement remained an important presence on the farm. For all of us, those fields will always remind us of David and his legacy to our department.
“We are forever grateful for his service and he will be greatly missed,” Sheriff Evangelidis wrote.
