Scholarship Honoring Life of Late Fresno Teacher and Police Officer | YourCentralValley.com

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A scholarship has been established to honor a former member of the Fresno Police Department and teacher at Washington Unified, Darrik Graef.

According to his obituary, Darrik Graef died on May 8th after a long battle with cancer. He served with the Fresno Police Department for 24 years before retiring in 2021. He then taught at Washington Union High School.

In a statement, Fresno police wrote that they were “truly saddened” by the news.

He was loved by everyone in the department and his larger-than-life personality was missed when he retired in 2021. Our thoughts are with his family, friends and students.

Fresno Police Department

The superintendent of the Washington Unified School District echoed that sentiment in another statement sent to YourCentralValley.com.

We are all saddened by the death of Darrik Graef. Darrik was a beloved member of our teaching staff at our Institute for Law and Justice. You could also hear Darrik announce at our sporting events. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends.

Randy Morris, superintendent of the Washington Unified School District

To honor Darrik’s memory, a GoFundMe online fundraiser has been set up to support the memorial scholarship fund established in his name.

You can find a link to this fundraiser here.