Alejandro Zukowski, a veteran craftsman who founded a family-run design firm in Salem, died in a car crash north of Dallas on Monday, Oct. 28. He was 63.
Zukowski, who lived in Salem, was the passenger in a vehicle that was struck by another car and then skidded into the path of a semi-truck with a trailer. The driver of the vehicle he rode in, David C. Stauber, 69, of Keizer, also died in the collision, Oregon State Police announced Thursday.
Zukowski, who went by Alex, was born and raised in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A third-generation craftsman, he grew up watching his father hand-cut and pick veneers to coat furniture. He moved to the U.S. in the late 1970s and founded Master Woodworks Inc. in 1985, the same year his son, Josiah Zukowski, was born, according to the company’s website.
The father-son duo went on to run the team together. The firm creates custom staircases, doors and other architecture throughout the Pacific Northwest.
“Alex was a brilliantly gifted craftsman and passionate leader of the finest architectural wood and metalwork projects in the Northwest and beyond for the past 40 years. It was a privilege and the adventure of a lifetime to work with him,” his son wrote in a tribute on the company’s Facebook page Wednesday. “Your little legion of misfits and makers past, present, and future, loves you and will miss you always.”
On Monday at 11:47 a.m., the Oregon State Police responded to a three-vehicle crash on Highway 22 at the intersection with Perrydale Road in Polk County.
From 2013 to 2022, there were 38 crashes at the intersection, which lies between Rickreall and the unincorporated community of Salt Creek. Of those, one crash was fatal, 32 resulted in injuries and five only involved property damage, according to data from the Oregon Department of Transportation
The state agency is planning to improve safety at the intersection by rearranging the roadways, including realigning Perrydale Road. The project is currently being designed and construction is expected to start in 2026, according to ODOT.
Meantime, the agency last month renewed grants to state police and the Polk County Sheriff’s Office for extra traffic patrols in the area, according to ODOT spokesman David House.
State police determined that Gay E. Hall Pentecost, 74, of Sheridan, stopped her Ford Taurus on Perrydale Road facing Highway 22. She would have been facing a stop sign at the intersection.
He then entered the road and struck a GMC Sierra 3500 pickup truck headed west and driven by Stauber, on the rear driver side bumper.
The impact caused the truck to skid into the eastbound lane. A semi truck with a trailer, headed east, crashed into the truck’s passenger side, state police said in a news release.
Zukowski and Stauber were declared dead at the scene.
The driver of the Taurus, Hall Pentecost, and the semi truck driver, Robert Farley Snyder, 60, of Independence, were not injured.
“We lost a passionate mentor, tutor, guide, visionary and tireless advocate of the finest work,” Zukowski’s son wrote in his tribute. “He could make almost anything from next to nothing. He took us places we didn’t know we could go. But more than all that he was an incredibly loving father, husband, grandfather and friend. He will be missed terribly and leaves behind an amazing legacy.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed the gender of Hall Pentecost. Salem Reporter apologies for the error.
Contact reporter Ardeshir Tabrizian: [email protected] or 503-929-3053.
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Ardeshir Tabrizian has covered criminal justice and housing for Salem Reporter since September 2021. As an Oregon native, his award-winning watchdog journalism has traversed the state. He has done reporting for The Oregonian, Eugene Weekly and Malheur Enterprise.
