By DIANE VALDEN
NEW YORK CITY—Retired longtime Columbia County public servant Paul Czajka died Tuesday evening, September 3 at Columbia Presbyterian in New York City, where he had been hospitalized for several weeks while undergoing cancer treatment, according to his friend since childhood, retired Hudson Police Chief L. Edward Moore. Family and friends were by his side.
Mr. Czajka was 70 years old. He resided in Livingston on the family farm where he grew up.
He had retired from his long held position as Columbia County District Attorney on December 31 of last year.
During his nearly 40 years of public service, Mr. Czajka, a dairy farmer turned lawyer, was a public defender, county judge and county district attorney. He held that office from January 1988 to December 1994 and again from January 2012 until his retirement. In between terms as DA, from January 1995 until May 2011, he was elected county judge and served for 17 years. He was a registered Republican.
Of the 46 DAs to have served Columbia County since 1796, Mr. Czajka was the longest serving and the first to serve full-time.
A graduate of Germantown High School, Mr. Czajka attended Hamiliton College, earned his bachelor’s degree at the State University at Albany and his law degree at the Western New England School of Law in Springfield, MA. He served in the U.S. Peace Corps in the Philippines. He leaves three grown sons and grandchildren.
In the 1980s, he notably prosecuted corrupt Hudson Police officers and James J. Dolan, Jr., the suspended Hudson police chief, who was sentenced in April 1991 to probation and fined for obstructing justice by interfering with drug investigations by other law-enforcement agencies.
In a January 2023 letter announcing he would not seek re-election that November, Mr. Czajka credited former sheriffs Paul Proper, James Bertram and “four courageously honest Hudson police officers” for the cleanup of the Hudson Police Department, saying, together, “We transformed that city by rooting out official corruption, making it possible for it to become a magnet for tourists and new residents.”
In that letter, Mr. Czajka said that the people of Columbia County had “entrusted” him with protecting family, fellow citizens and the entire community by electing him as district attorney, county judge and again as district attorney.
“… You have bestowed upon me the greatest honor of my professional life. I cannot overstate my gratitude,” he said.
Chief Moore told The Columbia Paper Wednesday, that “Paul, who was seven years older, was best friends with my brother. He was like a big brother to me.
“He was the most ethical man I ever met. He chose a hard way to make a living” and was always a great “supporter of victims,” the chief said.
Asked back in 2023 why he would not run again, Mr. Czajka said, “It’s time.” While he would not commit to what he would do in retirement, one thing is sure, he said, “I won’t milk cows again.”
Visitation hours at the Bates & Anderson-Redmond & Keeler Funeral Home, 110 Green Street, Hudson will be Sunday, September 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Monday, September 9, 10 a.m. from Holy Trinity / St. Mary’s Parish, with the Very Rev. Anthony Barratt E.V. officiating.
To contact Diane Valden email dvalden@columbiapaper.com