Leo C. Hertoghe, who mentored and supported law enforcement professionals as a longtime criminal justice professor at Sacramento State, died Sunday of complications related to lymphoma, his family said. He was 78.
Mr. Hertoghe taught for 35 years as a faculty member and later chairman of the California State University, Sacramento, Department of Criminal Justice. He specialized in law and industrial security, and he often was quoted in news stories on crime statistics and trends.
He began teaching in 1964 with a strong background in law enforcement and security, starting as an Air Force policeman and a special officer for the San Francisco Police Department. He worked as a state Alcoholic Beverage Control investigator and security consultant for the UC Berkeley Lawrence Radiation Laboratory. During the Cuban missile crisis, he was a civil defense planner for the U.S. Defense Department in Washington.
Gregarious and charismatic, Mr. Hertoghe was a popular lecturer who illustrated classroom lessons with real-world experiences. He was regarded as a caring mentor who engaged students intellectually and socially and often remembered their names.
"Leo was close to lots of people who were here in the '60s and '70s," criminal justice Chairman William Vizzard said. "When I run into former students who are retired, they always ask, 'Is Leo still there?' 'How's Leo doing?' "
Mr. Hertoghe followed students' careers in agencies from local police departments to the U.S. Justice Department and Central Intelligence Agency. He helped start criminal justice scholarship funds and was active in the Northern California Peace Officers Association.
"He never turned loose of his students," former Sacramento County Undersheriff Larry Stamm said. "He always kept up with where law enforcement took them."
Mr. Hertoghe was born in 1931 to Belgian immigrants who farmed in Scobey, Mont. The youngest of six children, he moved as a boy with his family to Reno. He served with the 131st Air Police in the Air Force during the Korean War.
He earned an associate degree from San Francisco State College, a bachelor's degree from Sacramento State and a juris doctor degree from Humphreys School of Law. He retired from teaching in 2000 and enjoyed working on his 10-acre farm in Loomis.
He is survived by his second wife, Marlene, and four children from a previous marriage to the former Adrienne Fotos that ended in divorce. His son, Bill, is law enforcement chief for the California Lottery after a career with Sacramento and Rocklin police and the Placer County Sheriff's Department.
Mr. Hertoghe stopped drinking and joined Alcoholics Anonymous after three surgeries for a brain aneurysm in 2005, said his daughter Debra Bennett. He completed a counseling education program and sponsored other AA members in law enforcement and the Veterans Administration.
"He was very adept at working with people in recovery," said Mike Carey, a drug and alcohol counselor. "He was a 'live and let live' person, but it was 'I'm here for you if you need me.' He always kept his hand out for other people."
Call The Bee's Robert D. Dávila, (916) 321-1077.
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