Romani community member Jozef Facuna has passed away in the Czech Republic

After a difficult illness, one of the most significant figures in the Romani community, Jozef Facuna, passed away surrounded by his beloved family and friends on 16 October 2019 at the age of 62. After the 1989 Velvet Revolution, Mr Facuna began to actively contribute to improving the position of the Romani nation and established a firm to employ Romani community members.

Mr Facuna also contributed to sports activities. He was the first person in the Czech Republic to establish a football club called FC Roma and together with others also established a hockey club for Romani children in Ostrava, his home town.

Mr Facuna was also involved in the education of Romani people by supporting the Romani Student Movement (Hnutí romských studentů), for example. He was a big fighter against drugs and harshly criticized those who sold them.

Mr Facuna participated in political discussions with members of the Government of the Czech Republic, MPs, or representatives of Regional Authorities, municipalities and municipal departments. He was a member of different commissions and ran for the Czech Senate in 1996.

As a person Mr Facuna did everything he could for his family and for the Romani community. He greatly appreciated his friends and did his best to change the coexistence between the majority society and Romani people for the better.

Mr Facuna was a great, strong figure whose life cannot be described in just one page - it would take an entire book to do so. Recently he suffered health problems and was surrounded by those closest to him, his entire family whom he loved more than anything else.

Mr Facuna loved his family with his entire heart. Up to the last day before he passed away his most trusted friend, Vladimír Leško, was by his side, as well as his beloved family - his wife Naďa, his daughter Nikola, his daughter Naďa-Kali, his son-in-law Vladimír, his grandson Leo, Miroslav Holub, and others from the family whom he loved above all else.

Mr Facuna was a legend in the Romani community of Ostrava, we Roma bid him farewell and we will never forget his benefaction and his love. Francur aš Devlesa o Del tusa amen.