OMAHA- For 39 years, Tom Doyle served as the county engineer, supervising highway construction, maintenance and snow clearing as the county grew to nearly 600,000 residents.

Doyle performed that job with grace and good humor, say longtime friends, until his recent death, at age 91.

“He wasn’t the highest-profile guy,” said his son, Mark Doyle, who is president of the Metropolitan Utilities District. “It’s just been steady work — safe bridges, safe roadways. That’s how he did his job.”

A lifelong Democrat with roots in South Omaha, Doyle was appointed county engineer in March 1983. Nearly four decades later, he had become Douglas County’s longest-serving officeholder.

“I can’t say enough good things about the way Tom Doyle treated people,” said County Board member P.J. Morgan, a Republican and former Omaha mayor who has known him for decades. “He had a passion about being county engineer, and serving the people.”

Doyle's career had a short stint in the private sector, Doyle then ran for the Nebraska Legislature in 1982 and won his race by 13 votes. Just two months into his term, however, Doyle accepted the position as Douglas County engineer, the first person to hold the job. He defeated a Republican opponent for reelection in 1986.

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