PORT HURON, Mich. (WDIV) – Authorities said a member of the volunteer St. Clair County sheriff's dive team has died after having a heart attack during training in Port Huron.
Sheriff Tim Donnellon said in a statement that 56-year-old John Makuch died at an area hospital after being rushed from the Port Huron YMCA on Sunday morning. Dive team members, who are trained paramedics, tried to revive him at the scene before an ambulance arrived.
Donnellon said Makuch joined the Dive Team in 1991 and was certified in search and rescue diving, ice diving and in 2009 earned his dive master certification. He was also a United States Coast Guard licensed captain and taught dive team members navigation, boat handling and sonar operation.
He served more than 20 years on the dive team, and was a member of the Dive Team Board of Directors and an assistant dive chief.
The Sheriff’s Office Dive Team is a branch of the Marine Division and is an all volunteer organization. According to Dive Chief Wayne Brusate, this is the first death recorded since the team’s inception in 1969.
Makuch is survived by his wife of 28 years, Eileen, daughter Ann Marie (and fiancé Craig), and son John. Visitation is scheduled for Tuesday from 2:30 p.m. until 9 p.m. at the Gendernalik Funeral Home in New Baltimore. A showing will be held at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Immaculate Conception Church in Ira Township, with Mass at 10 a.m.