BANGOR, Maine — A Penobscot County detective well-known for his work investigating child abuse and sexual assault cases succumbed to cancer Wednesday at the age of 56.

“He was a leader in that with his ability to manage children … [and] find facts without putting words in their mouths,” Sheriff Glenn Ross said Thursday of Detective Timothy M. Jameson. “People came to him for advice when they handled these cases.”

“For most of his career [with the county] he’s been a detective,” he said. “We’re terribly saddened at the loss of a person we viewed as an excellent officer and a comrade.”

County Administrator Bill Collins agreed.

“Tim was well-known by the county family and had the deepest respect from the commissioners because of his job as a detective but also because of the person he was,” Collins said Thursday.

“I had nothing but respect for Tim,” said Collins, who worked with Jameson during contract negotiations and when both served on the county’s health committee.

“He was a great guy,” Collins said. “This is a great loss for the Sheriff’s Department.

“We’ve had a tough year,” Collins said, adding that Jameson is the third Penobscot County employee to die this year.

Earlier this month, Audrey Horne, longtime administrative assistant to District Attorney R. Christopher Almy, died unexpectedly of a heart attack at the age of 71.

In May, James C. McPhearson Jr., a correctional officer at Penobscot County Jail, died of brain cancer at the age of 42.

Born in Bangor in 1953, Jameson was a 1971 graduate of Hampden Academy and a 1977 graduate of the College of Great Falls in Great Falls, Mont., where he received a bachelor’s degree.

Jameson began his career in law enforcement as a security policeman for the U.S. Air Force in Great Falls, Mont., where he was stationed from 1975 to 1979, according to his obituary. In 1979, he returned to Maine and joined the Ellsworth Police Department. He then enrolled in the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, graduating as president of his class.

Ross said that Jameson was a very private person and rarely talked about his long and courageous battle with cancer, which lasted several years.

“He stayed positive through all of that,” Ross said. “We feel so bad for his family. He’s had a very difficult last couple of months. That suffering is over now.”

According to his obituary, Jameson is survived by his wife, Louise, sons Matthew Jameson of Wilmington, Del., and Joshua Jameson of Portland, his mother, Dianne Andrezik, and her husband, Jim, of Palm Harbor, Fla., as well as three brothers. He was predeceased by his father, James.

Relatives and friends are welcome to call 6-8 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 29, at Brookings-Smith Clark-Piper Chapel, 55 South Main St., Brewer.

His funeral service will be held at 11 a.m. Monday, Aug. 30, at St. Teresa’s Roman Catholic Church at 436 South Main St. in Brewer. Burial will follow at Mount Pleasant Catholic Cemetery on Ohio Street in Bangor.

After the services, family and friends are invited to share conversation and refreshments at St. Teresa’s church hall.

Those wishing to remember Tim in a special way may make gifts in his name to the Maine Children’s Alliance, 303 State St., Augusta 04330-7037 or the American Cancer Society, One Bowdoin Mill Island, Suite 300, Topsham, Maine, 04086.

Condolences to the family may be expressed at www.BrookingsSmith.com.