HIGHLAND – The Ulster County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of retired , 66, and his wife Melinda, known as Mindy. The two were found dead in their Milton Turnpike home around 11:45 Friday night.
The Clintondale Fire Department and New Paltz Rescue Squad were dispatched to the residence for a report of two unconscious and unresponsive adults.
On Saturday, members of the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office and Ulster County Medical Examiner’s Office were at the couple’s residence.
Jimmy Brugger had battled prostrate cancer, common among firefighters, and lobbied extensively for the National Firefighter Cancer Registry, to track which firefighters have cancer, what type of cancer they have, how long they have been on the job, and what possibly where they exposed to. He retired from the Poughkeepsie Fire Department in 2025 after 27 1/2 years of service.
Brugger enjoyed playing bagpipes and was a member of several pipe and drum organizations.
Brugger’s fire service began when he volunteered as a member of the Plattekill Fire Department in 1987. He spent twenty years there as a volunteer including time as chief of the department. Two months after joining Plattekill, he was hired as a professional firefighter by Poughkeepsie and graduated from the Westchester Career Chiefs Academy a short time later, marking the beginning of his career.
His commitment to service and his community continued when he volunteered with the Milton Fire Department in 2007, where he was still serving at the time of his death.
In 2005 he started teaching others his craft by serving as an Ulster County Fire Instructor and in 2010 he became a certified New York State Fire Instructor, further spreading his knowledge.
Mindy Brugger was a certified EMT and a CPR instructor.
As a couple, the two were credited for saving a man’s life after he suffered a heart attack at Stewart International Airport in 2016. The Bruggers were preparing to fly to Florida on a vacation when they saw an unconscious man in the terminal. Brugger and another firefighter who was at the airport immediately grabbed a public-access AED while a bystander performed CPR and Brugger’s wife monitored the man’s response. The 65-year-old man regained consciousness a few minutes later. The patient was treated by paramedics who determined he had suffered a massive heart attack and would have likely died if not for the actions of the Bruggers and others. .
Comments