Jack Buckalew, whose long and varied career in public service began when he joined the State Police in 1955 and continued through the present-day as a member of the state Ethics Commission, has died. He was 84.
The longtime law enforcement officer died at his home in Boca Raton, Florida, on Thursday morning, Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper said. Carper said he knew Buckalew for 40 years and that the county would mourn his loss.
"He was one of the most decent, honest men I ever knew," Carper said. "He was a tribute to what a law enforcement professional should be."
Buckalew was a State Police trooper from 1955 to 1972, and again from 1977 to 1983, when he stepped down to serve two years as chief of police for the city of Charleston.
Buckalew served as the State Police's chief of field operations, officer in charge of the Criminal Identification Bureau and as commandant of the State Police Academy.
He was working in the private sector when Gov. Gaston Caperton named him State Police superintendent in 1989, a position he held for four years before stepping down over ongoing disagreements with the administration over State Police budget cuts.
For years after, Buckalew's reputation was clouded over allegations that while superintendent, he had suppressed an internal report that raised issues about whether ex-State Police chemist Fred Zain had faked or altered crime lab results in criminal investigations. The issue was abruptly put to rest when Zain died in 2002 awaiting retrial on fraud charges.
A year after stepping down as superintendent, Buckalew tried his hand at politics, running for state Senate, campaigning for lower taxes and less government. He won in a major upset of incumbent Sen. Jim Humphreys, D-Kanawha.
In 1997, Buckalew became Senate minority leader, overseeing the nine GOP members of the Senate at the time.
He was known for treating the part-time position of legislator as a full-time job, reporting to his Capitol office five days a week throughout the year.
Buckalew lost his re-election bid to Charleston attorney John Mitchell in 1998, in part because of issues raised over his role in the Zain scandal. Immediately upon leaving office in January 1999, he accepted a position as assistant secretary of the Department of Administration, and a year later was named Administration secretary by Gov. Cecil Underwood, serving until the end of Underwood's term in January 2001.
In 2005, Buckalew was appointed to the state Ethics Commission, and served as a commissioner until his death.
As a commissioner, Buckalew was adamant in his opposition of law enforcement associations soliciting contributions by giving out window decals that many donors believe provide leniency from officers in traffic stops, calling the practice "totally unethical." However, his cause proved to be lost in 2008, when the Legislature gutted Ethics Commission rules that would have banned such solicitations.
Known for his tenacity, Buckalew for years kept in his office a photograph of the wreckage of a small plane he crashed in 1957. Released from the hospital two weeks later, Buckalew headed back to the airport to pilot another private plane, reasoning that if he didn't get back in a plane immediately, he would never fly again.
Buckalew's wife, Eula, died in 2004. His survivors include sons Robert and Paul, their wives, and grandchildren.
Funeral arrangements were not immediately known on Thursday.