I was greatly saddened when I learned yesterday that James F. Crow died earlier this week. Jim was a link to everyone who had a hand in the development of genetics, from Mueller, Sturtevant, Fisher, Wright, and Haldane to Kimura and too many others to mention. I can't claim to know him well. Our paths crossed only a few times, but he was extraordinarily generous and kind. I was especially flattered that he came to a talk I gave last April when I visited the University of Wisconsin. He asked a difficult, incisive question and in his gentle way encouraged me to think more carefully about my results.
The January issue of Genetics began a series of articles, "Honoring Our Colleague James F. Crow, an Outstanding Gentleman, Citizen, and Scientist".
The January issue of Genetics began a series of articles, "Honoring Our Colleague James F. Crow, an Outstanding Gentleman, Citizen, and Scientist".
Why honor Jim? The answer is obvious to the many who have the privilege to know him: a gentleman and scholar of the highest order, he represents the best of our field. (source)John Hawks sums up the feelings of those who knew him the best, his colleagues at the University of Wisconsin.
Several years ago, colleagues from several departments here at the University of Wisconsin-Madison succeeded in a long-time ambition of Jim's to found an Institute for the Study of Evolution. He had envisioned that the institute should be named for Sewall Wright, who had been important to Jim himself and forms a major part of the legacy of genetics and evolution. But the future institute's members insisted instead to name the new entity in honor of Jim. It is a fitting legacy for a great evolutionary geneticist.Jim was a treasure, and he will be greatly missed.
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