U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent dies while jogging at Schoodic Point

ACADIA NATIONAL PARK – A special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service died while jogging Thursday morning at Schoodic Point.

The body of 37-year-old Thomas Cloherty of Gouldsboro was found just after 9 a.m. He was wearing running clothes and running shoes and was lying in the lower level of the parking area in Winter Harbor, state and park officials said.

“There was no trauma involved. He didn’t fall,” said Edward Pontbriand, Schoodic’s district ranger. “He died of natural causes.”

State Trooper Cliff Peterson said the exact cause of the man’s death remains under investigation but officers have ruled out suicide or foul play.

Cloherty had a heart condition, which may have played a role in his death, the trooper said. He called a co-worker halfway through his run but nothing about the conversation seemed out of the ordinary, police said.

Pontbriand was driving through Schoodic Point when he spotted an empty Chevy Tahoe in the upper section of the parking lot. He drove around to the lower level and saw the man whom he had seen many times before striding along the park roads.

“He loved to run out there because it is such a beautiful spot,” Pontbriand said. Cloherty was an avid jogger; he ran 14 miles or so three days a week.

But this time, the runner was blue in the face and his body was lying strangely on a rock. Pontbriand called the man’s name but there was no response. He checked for a pulse and there was none, he said.

Cloherty worked for the past two years in the wildlife service’s East Orland office. He recently finished his field training and was in the process of being transferred to New York.

He leaves a wife and four children between the ages of 8 and 1.

Pontbriand said he nicknamed the special agent “Mr. Smiley” because he was always grinning.

“He loved the outdoors. He loved hunting and fishing,” he said. “He was the most likeable guy you would ever want to meet.”

Cloherty’s body was taken to the Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home in Ellsworth. The state medical examiner may perform an autopsy, Peterson said.