James F. Crow (1916–2012) A Remarkable Geneticist, a Remarkable Man

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 reference text. “He spoke and wrote in a straightforward and folksy voice,” remembers Joe Felsenstein, a former undergraduate in his laboratory. Crow published more than 250 papers dealing with diverse subjects such as reproductive isolation, hybrid vigor, insecticide resistance, effects of inbreeding, effective population size, opportunity for selection, fundamental theorem of natural selection, mutation rates, radiation effects, genetic load, heterozygous effects of recessive mutations, meiotic drive, hybrid dysgenesis, and group selection. He served as chairman of the Department of Genetics and Medical Genetics as well as acting dean of the medical school, and he played a key role in various committees of the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Justice, the Department of Energy, and the National Research Council. Among his pastimes was playing the viola in chamber groups and with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, and he served as president of the Madison Symphony Orchestra and the Madison Civic Music Association. Throughout his career, Crow was active in the Genetics Society of America. His birth and the first issue of the journal Genetics were both scheduled for January 1916; only he arrived on time. He served the society as its elected vice president (1959) and president (1960), and he was awarded its Thomas Hunt Morgan medal in 1987. For 5 years he served as associate editor of Genetics, and he and William F. Dove founded the feature called Pespectives and edited it for more than 10 years. Many of these pieces Crow wrote himself, some in only a few hurried days when a promised manuscript did not materialize. Crow’s teaching expertise was recognized with many awards including a Bascom Professorship for Distinguished Service and Teaching, a College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Teaching Award, and a University of Wisconsin at Madison Distinguished Teaching Award. His scientific and leadership contributions were honored with memberships in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the Japan Academy, and the Royal Society of London, as well as honorary degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Edinburgh. In 2011, the editors of Genetics commissioned a series of Perspectives and Review articles to spotlight Crow’s excellence in teaching and research and his many other accomplishments. Some of these articles have already appeared; more will be published over the coming months. Originally conceived as a celebration of his 95th birthday, James F. Crow Photo courtesy of Hilde Adler