Professor Emeritus Constantin Crăciun (15 September 1937 – 25 November 2016)

Abstract

CONSTANTIN CRĂCIUN was born on September 15, 1937, in Pîrscoveni (Olt County, former Romanați County), Romania. Teodor Crăciun, the father of Constantin, graduated Philosophy and Theology at the University of Bucharest and became a devoted priest. He married Eva Cunescu, the daughter of a Moldavian boyar. Tragi­cally, Eva Crăciun passed away while all her four children were very young (Con­stantin himself being only 3-years-old). Following this suffering moment, Teodor Crăciun moved with his family to Corabia where he was appointed as bishop. Constantin went on a deprived childhood and teenage, graduating the secondary school (Corabia), and the Technical High School for Topography (Bucharest, 1957). Con­stantin was afterwards appointed a job in Transylvania (Bihor County). At that time, he could not enroll in academic studies because of his politically ‘unhealthy’ ascendance, by the communist standards. Soon, however, Constantin was formally adopted by the family that hosted him in Batar village (Bihor County). It was a crucial moment in Constantin’s fate, as he was now ‘eligible’ to become a student at the Faculty of Biology (Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj, 1961-1966). During his undergraduate studies in Biology, Constantin Crăciun was tutored by Professors Eugen A. Pora, Emil Pop, Oreste Marcu, Victor Pop, Ștefan Kiss and others that left their marks on the progress of biological sciences in Cluj-Napoca and Romania. As a student, Constantin was remarked by Professor V. Gh. Radu for his hardworking, sense of responsibility and keenness to take on technical and science challenges. Prof. V. Gh. Radu foresaw Constantin as a promising researcher and therefore, provided him a position at the Institute of Biological Research in Cluj-Napoca (1966-1978). The Romanian Nobel laureate Professor George E. Palade granted Constantin Crăciun a fellowship for attending a specialization at the Medical School of Yale University, but he was again denied to follow his dreams by the communist policy that restricted the travels in foreign countries. Following a specialization in electron microscopy at the University of Bucharest, Constantin Crăciun together with Professor V. Gh. Radu established the Laboratory of Electron Microscopy of the Babeș-Bolyai University starting in 1971. Since 2000, this Laboratory became the Electron Microscopy Center, which was continuously managed by Constantin Crăciun until his most regretted decease in 2016.