Eugene Howard Czajkoski, 78, died Friday, February 16, 2007, at the Margaret Dozier Hospice House. He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Rosalind.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to the Eugene H. and Rosalind D. Czajkoski Scholarship Fund, College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, attention Dean Blomberg, 634 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL 32306.

Dr. Czajkoski was an Army Veteran of the Korean War. A native of New York, he earned his doctorate in public administration (Criminal justice) from New York University in 1964. He joined the Florida State University faculty in 1966, and continued to teach in the classroom as recently as Fall of 2006. He was the chair of the department of criminology before becoming the founding dean of the School of Criminology in 1974. He remained dean until 1986. In 1987, he was awarded dean emeritus and professor emeritus status.

In addition to his active involvement at FSU and major professional associations in his field, Dr. Czajkoski served as commissioner on the Florida Supreme Court Nominating Commission; consultant for National Institute of Justice; chairman of the Governor’s Council on Criminal Justice; and various other positions within the Governor’s office. He was instrumental in creating DISC Village, a drug treatment center, and was on its board of directors for 35 years.

Gene had a wonderful sense of humor and was a colorful, gregarious conversationalist. His virtues were many; he was reliable, fair, loyal, prudent, trustworthy, ethical, reasonable, kind, and a truly good and decent man, who lived by the “Golden Rule.” He was a good friend to many and a loving, devoted husband.

Other survivors include the Rapaglia and D’Arco families and many friends, colleagues, and students.

Published in the Tallahassee Democrat on 2/18/2007.