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JAMES F. Crow, professor emeritus of genetics, died peacefully in his sleep of congestive heart failure in Madison, Wisconsin, on January 4, 2012, 2 weeks before his 96th birthday. A leading figure in 20th century genetics whose career spanned 72 years, Crow was renowned as teacher, mentor, colleague, research scientist, textbook author, academic administrator, scientific leader, genetics historian, editor, and community supporter. He was born in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, 2 years before his family moved to Wichita, Kansas, where he attended public school. He received a bachelor of science degree from Friends University in Wichita (1937) and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin (1941). For 7 years, he was on the faculty of Dartmouth College and then moved to the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he spent the rest of his career. His wife of 60 years, Ann Crockett Crow, died in 2001, and he leaves three surviving children, six grandchildren, and two greatgrandchildren.
"Gladly would he learn," writes long-time colleague Oliver Smithies quoting Chaucer, "and gladly teach." Crow's undergraduate genetics course, Genetics 560, was legendary, and he mentored many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who went on to make successful careers of their own. His textbook Genetics Notes was published in eight editions, and his Introduction to Population Genetics Theory, written with Motoo Kimura, continues to be a classic...