Decorated and widely respected former Lexington County Sheriff Lewis McCarty died Friday.

McCarty’s health had been declining for several months before he died at Palmetto Health Baptist Hospital, according to a news release from the Richland County Sheriff’s Department. He was 76.

“Sheriff McCarty had an incredible influence on me as a law enforcement officer and leader,” said Lexington County Sheriff Jay Koon in the release. “He touched many others in the profession and had a hand in laying a firm foundation at the Sheriff’s Department that’s still in place today. I, along with the entire department, owe him a debt of gratitude for his entire body of work and years of service.”

Funeral arrangements have not been finalized, according to the release. Caughman-Harman Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.

McCarty represented law and order in Lexington County for more than three decades, serving as a father figure for deputies and spurring federal corruption probes.

He was responsible for starting the largest political corruption investigation in South Carolina history – Operation Lost Trust. In addition, at a time when state senators ruled South Carolina, McCarty’s tip led to the indictment of then-state Sen. John Long for selling state jobs.

Born and raised in Lexington County, McCarty knew many people in one of the state’s fastest growing communities. Name a family that has been there a while and McCarty could tell you their history.

He grew up on Center Street in West Columbia, where relatives lived nearby. His late father, Roy, installed service station equipment for 34 years.

After retiring as the county’s assistant sheriff in 1999, he returned to take over the position of sheriff after former Sheriff James Metts was indicted in 2014 on allegations that he had accepted bribes.

McCarty’s name was at the top of every list when then-Gov. Nikki Haley sought recommendations on whom to appoint as sheriff temporarily, according to former Haley aide Ted Pitts. More importantly, McCarty was the choice of State Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel.

McCarty said he felt duty-bound to accept the job even though returning to law enforcement at age 72 after a 15-year absence would be a challenge. He moved quickly to put his imprint in place, dismissing four top deputies that county leaders feared may have known about Metts’ misdeeds but raised no alarm.

He told deputies to concentrate on law enforcement as a first step in rebuilding trust with residents shaken by Metts’ disgrace.

“Do your best – that’s all I ask of everybody,” he said at the time, an approach that others said made him a father figure to many officers.

During McCarty’s tenure as sheriff, deputies dealt with two major killings.

The first was the deaths of Timothy Jones’s five children at their Red Bank home in 2015.

McCarty occasionally choked up at a news conference outlining what happened following Jones’ arrest for one of the largest recent mass murders in the Midlands.

The other was the arrest of five Swansea-area teenagers in connection with the murder of a homeowner during a home robbery.

It’s a crime that McCarty described as “the most senseless homicide that I have seen in my life.”