On Friday, June 18, 2021, at the age of 71, our esteemed Professor Slavko Krajcar, PhD, passed away. Professor Krajcar (born in 1951) made an exceptional contribution to the development of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, to which he served as dean from 1998 to 2002 and afterwards from 2002 to 2006 he became the Head of the Department of Energy and Power Systems of which he remained a faculty member until his death. He will always be remembered as a respected scientist, expert and colleague.
We will be thankful to Professor Krajcar for everything he has done for our Department, his energy and visionary leadership will forever brighten our Department. On behalf of the Department of Energy and Power Systems and all of its employees, as well as myself personally, I express our deepest condolences to his family, friends, colleagues and associates.
Rest in peace, dear Professor.
Professor Slavko Krajcar was born on January 14, 1951 in Krajcar Brijeg in the municipality of Žminj. He completed elementary school in Sv. Petar u Šumi and graduated from the Technical High School in Pula. In 1969, he enrolled at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering in Zagreb, from which he graduated in the fall of 1973. After graduating, he began employment at the Department of Energy and Power Systems at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing (formerly the Faculty of Electrical Engineering). He received his master's degree in 1980 with the thesis topic: "Design of distribution networks based on load forecasting as a random process" (mentor: Prof. Milan Šodan, PhD) and his doctor’s degree in 1988 with the thesis topic: "Algorithms for interactive optimal planning of distribution networks" (mentor: prof. Milan Šodan, PhD). Since January 1, 1974, he was active in scientific work and teaching, initially as an assistant in the group of subjects "Electricity generation". In 1990, he was elected to the scientific-teaching title of assistant professor to which he was re-elected again in 1992. In 1997, he was elected to the title of associate professor and in 2002 to the title of full professor. Later, in 2007, he was elected to the title of distinguished professor (tenured). Professor Krajcar received all of these academic titles at the Department of Energy and Power Systems at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the University of Zagreb (as of 1995, the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing). He spent his entire career of over 46 years at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing.
Professor Krajcar mentored 86 graduate theses and 39 final theses as well as having mentored 10 candidates who obtained Doctor of Science degrees and 14 candidates in their preparation of scientific master's theses.
He has given keynote lectures and interviews in addition to having written columns about education, especially the education of engineers for the 21st century.
He participated in many Croatian projects in science and those for the needs of the economy, as well as in international scientific and professional projects. In terms of projects dating after the year 2000, that number is over 50 while he was project leader for 36 of those. In addition to these projects, there were nearly a hundred more scientific and professional projects from the beginning of his work until 2000. He was one of the leaders in the development of the Croatian Energy Strategy (adopted by Parliament in 2010) and the Energy Efficiency Act (2008), as well as the implementation plans until the adoption of new strategies (2008-2020).
Additionally, Professor Slavko Krajcar was extremely active outside of the Faculty and University. He was a full member and member of the Management Board of the Croatian Academy of Engineering as well as the president of the Croatian Lighting Society. He participated in the work of many professional associations (IEEE, CIGRE, CIRED, HDR, etc.). He frequently participated in round tables and radio and TV shows, in addition to writing columns and moderating round tables and gatherings. He often gave interviews to the media.
Aside from his professional background, he was also active in culture. He was the president of the cultural society ‘’Čakavski sabor’’ for two terms; published two collections of poems; published his poems in magazines and anthologies; and he edited four books related to culture.
In 2002, he received the golden plaque "Josip Lončar" from the University of Zagreb’s Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing for many years of dedicated teaching and research and his outstanding contributions to the overall development of the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing. He was elected as a Senior Member of the IEEE in 2004. He received a special award for the reconstruction and development of the University Computing Center (SRCE) on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of its founding in 2011. In 2014, he received the HO CIRED award for great professional contribution to the development of electricity distribution (lifetime achievement award) and in 2018 the HRO CIGRE award for overall contribution to the power industry in the Republic of Croatia (lifetime achievement award). In 2020, he received the ‘’Nikola Tesla’’ Croatian IEEE Section award for outstanding contribution to science, education and the profession in the field of electrical engineering and computing and significant achievements in electrical engineering and information technology.