John Jay College of Criminal Justice mourns the passing of Jack Rudin, a trustee emeritus of the John Jay College Foundation, who died Dec. 4 at the age of 92.

President Jeremy Travis noted: “Jack was one of the earliest and most important supporters of the transformation of John Jay College, beginning in the first year of my presidency.  He kept a relentless focus on creating partnerships between John Jay College and the agencies of the City of New York, so the expertise of our faculty and energy of our students would benefit the City he and his family loved.  I am personally deeply indebted to him and cherish his friendship.” 

As chairman of Rudin Management, a real estate firm that has been developing New York City for five generations, Jack Rudin was more than simply a builder, developer and property manager. He was a thoroughly engaged citizen of New York who carried on a family tradition of philanthropy and public service. In 1971, as the New York City fiscal crisis loomed, he and his younger brother Lewis, who died in 2001, helped found the Association for a Better New York to promote civic pride.

Rudin and the Rudin family were stalwart supporters of John Jay, notably the work of the Research & Evaluation Center. The Rudins’ generosity has allowed the center’s research staff to help New York City build stronger programs for justice-involved young people through the Evidence Generation initiative, and to develop more effective ways to prevent crime and violence in the city through an ongoing evaluation of the Cure Violence model.

In addition, the Rudin Research Partnership program allows REC staff to collaborate on research projects with John Jay faculty and New York city and state justice organizations. A companion program, the Rudin Fellows in Applied Justice Research, allows graduate students to work in conjunction with nonprofit community-based organizations in the New York City youth justice sector. The Fellows receive guidance and training in applied evaluation skills from John Jay faculty and staff, and then apply these skills to help support and develop the analytical capacities of participating agencies.

To read the obituary in the New York Times, click here.