Dr. Joseph Anthony Rukus Jr.

After a long fight with cancer, on Monday, December 28, 2020, Dr. Joseph Anthony Rukus, Jr., of Jonesboro, Arkansas, passed away. He was born July 27, 1966, in Middletown, Connecticut to Anita Brown and the late Joseph Rukus, Sr. Joe lived a full and eventful life.  He loved his family, his friends, and pursing his passions. When he was in his early twenties, Joe and two of his close friends started and jointly ran a successful travel agency. After he and his partners closed their business, he moved to the Castro district in San Francisco, California. While there, Joe fell in love with making a positive impact through serving the community and was a regular volunteer at Bay Area soup kitchens. His work with the homeless population motivated him to go back to school. He went on to complete his second bachelor’s degree at San Francisco State University, his master’s at Cornell University, and his doctorate at the University of Florida. Joe’s education enabled him to become fully invested in creating positive systemic change in both the criminal justice system and the communities he lived in. He accomplished this through his energetic hands-on approach to teaching, mentoring his students, and through his many research projects. Joe had recently (2020) achieved tenure professor at Arkansas State University.

He is survived by his mother, Anita Brown, his sisters, Lisa Heller and Jessica Miller, stepsister, Lilly Jacqueline, nephew, Michael Rukus, and his two nieces Victoria Rukus and Marisa Heller as well as numerous friends, students, and extended family.

In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to Future For Felons at https://futureforfelons201.wixsite.com/futureforfelons/donate .

Due to COVID-19 precautions, a memorial service will be held virtually January 16, 2021 at 2:00pm (CST), at https://www.facebook.com/nleministries .