MECKLENBURG COUNTY, N.C. -- The Mecklenburg County Sheriff’s Office is grieving the loss of one of their deputies.

Deputy Sheriff Sylvia Deese passed away suddenly on Sunday from a medical event that happened Friday while she was off-duty.

The department says she was affectionately referred to as "Mama Deese" and spent many years working off-duty for her beloved Carolina Panthers.

Deese leaves behind her husband and a son, who works as a dispatcher with the sheriff's office.