Thomas Crandall's Obituary
Thomas D. Crandall, beloved father, friend, and well-loved man, died at the age of 73 in Lakewood, Washington on October 7, 2017. He was the second son of Mary Lowe Crandall and Robert Fayette Crandall, born on September 17, 1944 in Gas City, Indiana. A 1962 graduate of Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, IN, he attended and graduated from the College of Forestry, Purdue University, in 1966. He attended forestry camp in northern Wisconsin where he met and married his first wife, Patricia Cerney. His experiences in forestry camp lead to a lifelong love of the outdoors. He loved to spend time with friends and family in the woods and could identify any tree by its leaves, needles, or bark. After college, he earned a J.D. degree from the College of Law, Indiana University, Bloomington in 1969. As a new attorney, Tom was a passionate advocate for the underserved, working first for Milwaukee Legal Services (Wisconsin) and then Pennsylvania Legal Services in Harrisburg, PA. Tom was the original draftsman, organizer of support for the Wisconsin Consumer Act, and the sole negotiator for Governor Patrick Lucey and all consumer groups. This act was the first comprehensive credit code successfully negotiated by both consumer and creditor interests. He also was responsible for miscellaneous legislation and regulations related to indigent individuals in Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
In 1974, he began a long and successful career teaching law, first at Gonzaga University School of Law in Spokane, Washington. It was in Spokane that he met his second wife, Candace Carver, and they welcomed a daughter, Kelley Cristina in 1977, and a son, Franklin Thomas in 1980. In 1983, after taking visiting professorships at the University of North Carolina, and SUNY Buffalo, he and his family settled in Denver, Colorado where he taught at the University of Denver College of Law until 1991. That year, he became the Dean of the School of Law at the University of Toledo (Ohio). After 2 years, he returned to teaching, and capped his long career with visiting professorships at University of Texas (for two academic years), Florida State University (one academic year), Loyola University New Orleans (one academic year), Wake Forest University (one academic year), and the Moritz College of Law at The Ohio State University (one year). During this time, Tom met and married his third wife, Nadine Manning, in 1999.
Along with Professor Douglas Whaley (Ohio State) Tom authored one of the leading books used to teach Contracts Law in this country: Crandall and Whaley, Cases, Problems and Materials on Contracts (7th ed. Aspen Casebook Series 2016). He was repeatedly characterized as “the best professor I had in law school” by countless of his students. Tom received teaching awards from Gonzaga University, University of Denver, and University of Toledo. He also received the university-wide Texas Excellence Teaching Award for the law school from the Texas Exes while serving as a visiting professor at the University of Texas. Twice Chair of Commercial and Related Consumer Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools, Tom was also elected a member of the American Law Institute.
He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Kenneth F. Crandall (JoAnn), his daughter, Kelley Crandall, son and daughter-in-law Franklin Crandall (Lauren), a niece, Candy, and six granddaughters, Skyla, Verite, Aaralyn, Kenna, Lucy and Ella. Professor Crandall leaves a host of cousins, friends and loved ones to cherish his memories.
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