Andrew C. Ciofalo, founder of Loyola University Maryland journalism program, dies in Russia

Andrew C. Ciofalo, a veteran newspaperman who established the journalism program at Loyola University Maryland and also directed an American study-abroad education company, died March 7 of undetermined causes at Moscow City Hospital No. 67. He was 89.

The former Towson resident had lived in Russia for the last five years with his wife of many years, Dr. Olga Timofeeva, a neuroscientist.

“Professor Ciofalo helped to inspire my passion for journalism. He encouraged me to take on leadership roles in our college newspaper and he taught me the importance of an independent press that holds people and institutions in power to account,” wrote Trif Alatzas, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Baltimore Sun, in an email.

Kevin M. Atticks, Maryland secretary of agriculture, had also been a student of Professor Ciofalo.

“He was a rare combination of practitioner and visionary,” Mr. Atticks wrote in an email. “His friendship, humor and mentorship was omnipresent, and his lifelong commitment to experimental education ran deep.”

Andrew Carmine Ciofalo, son of Andrew C. Ciofalo Sr., a tile mason and artisan, and his wife, Frances, a retail manager, was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, and was a graduate of Salesian High School on Staten Island.

Professor Ciafalo earned a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Brooklyn College and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.

He began his newspaper career in 1955 as an editorial assistant for the New York Daily News, and after graduating from Columbia, was named managing editor of Manhattan East, a New York city weekly community newspaper. He had been a contributor to the old Brooklyn Eagle.

From 1962 to 1969, he had been an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia Journalism; an editorial consultant to Circus Magazine; a senior writer for Custom Book Publishers; a managing editor of Clyde Magazine, a general men’s magazine; and a radio news writer for the old New York Herald Tribune.

Professor Ciafalo was a lecturer in journalism at Brooklyn College from 1962 to 1972 and director of development at the New York Institute of Technology.

From 1970 to 1976, he was director of college relations and development at Bronx Community College. While there, he established a university housing initiative, the University Heights Development Corp., that renovated off-campus dormitories as senior citizen housing.

In 1981, he served as an editor and writer for McGraw Hill, where he wrote a newsletter, “This Month In Telecommunications.”

Professor Ciofalo was hired in 1983 by Loyola where he established what is now its Communication Department.

“Andy Ciofalo was an energetic and innovative member of the Communication Department faculty at Loyola, where he founded the journalism and editing track,” wrote John E. McIntyre, former copy desk chief and assistant managing editor at The Sun, in an email.

“He was intimately involved in the creation of the book editing track and establishment of the student-run publisher Apprentice House Press,” wrote Mr. McIntyre, who was an adjunct professor for more than 20 years at Loyola where he taught editing. “I was invited twice to participate in his summer program in Cagli in Italy’s Marche. Over four weeks undergraduates did interviews, wrote stories, took photographs and created online content. He was a huge encourager of students and faculty.”

Professor Ciofalo had a knack for recruiting students.

“Andy single-handedly altered the trajectory of my life and career,” Mr. Atticks wrote. “Toward the end of my freshman year, I was leaving a music class contemplating a music major when the elevator door opened and there was Andy.

“After a quick two-flight conversation, Andy had convinced me to give journalism and publishing a try. It worked. Now 30 years later, I’m leading the very publishing house Andy envisioned, Apprentice House Press, that would provide book industry experience for our students, and have built a career founded on communication.”

“He leaves a legacy of teaching so many aspiring journalists over the years and I feel fortunate that our paths crossed,” Mr. Alatzas wrote.

In 2002, he founded the Cagli Program in International Reporting, and since 2005, Professor Ciofalo had been president of the Institute for Education in International Media — ieiMedia LLC — which operates the Cagli Program as an independent entity, and includes partnerships with Marquette University, Temple University and Gonzaga University.

The institute also includes experimental projects in Italy, Northern Ireland, China, Spain, Israel and Turkey, in partnership with San Francisco State University, Iowa State University, James Madison University, University of Jamestown, Cal State University Fullerton, Guangxi Normal University and Hebrew University.

After 30 years at Loyola, he retired in 2013, and moved to Venice, Florida.

Reflecting on his tenure in a Sun op-ed piece in 2023, Professor Ciofalo wrote:

“Would I do anything different today? Of course I would. I would work with students to engage intellectually with the issues facing journalism now. Never has the threat been so terminal,” he wrote.

“But also there never have been more platforms to which we must adapt without losing the meaning of journalism for our society. We are living in a selfie world where ego supersedes the truth of objectivity. Even more challenging, a mind-altered society cannot distinguish between the real world and fantasy. If there is an audience out there, we have to find it — and nurture it.”

When he wasn’t writing, teaching or lecturing, Professor Ciofalo enjoyed traveling. He was also a frequent contributor to The Sun and other newspapers.

“He loved Italy and cooking and eating, and was also a great cook himself,” said his daughter, Terri Ciofalo, of Champaign, Illinois. “He was also a baritone tenor and enjoyed singing.”

Last month, in a blog post, Professor Ciofalo contemplated the lede, or opening paragraph, of his obituary, and had written several suggested entries.

His headline was “Old and Productive — Gone today,” and he had written:

“Prof. Emeritus Andrew Ciofalo, who actively ran his American study-abroad education company well into his 90’s, died today at age 98 while living obscurely on financial fumes in Moscow, Russia.”

Under a second headline, “He Coulda Been Somebody,” he had written: “The prideful young man who was once called ‘the best writer’ in his Columbia graduate journalism class by the revered Prof. Larry Pinkham, died today at age 98 in Moscow, Russia — never having lived up to those expectations. But Prof. Andrew Ciofalo did pivot into an innovative career in journalism education where he helped others fulfill his faded dream.”

Plans for services to be held in the chapel on the Loyola campus are incomplete.

In addition to his wife, Dr. Timofeeva, and daughter, he is survived by a son, David Andrew Ciofalo of Roland Park; a stepdaughter, Jennifer Lynn Tosh of Roland Park; a brother, Thomas Ciofalo of Ramsey, New Jersey; and four grandchildren. Earlier marriages to Linda Stivak and Judith Dobler, ended in divorce.