Susan J. Craighead ’86

Susan, the journalist and campaigning jurist, died Dec. 29, 2023, after a brief hospital stay. She had an extremely severe, rare skin disease from birth, yet she always found ways to live a full life in the midst of constant pain and physical limitations.

After Burlington (Vt.) High School, Susan came to Princeton and the Wilson School, writing her thesis on the chemical gas tragedy in Bhopal. This work led to a Rhodes scholarship (Oxford M.Phil. in international relations), an opportunity that gave her the chance to, as one friend noticed, “become a social butterfly.”

On returning to the United States, she began a brief career as a reporter, work that built upon her experience with the University Press Club. Outgrowing that, she went to Harvard Law School, became a public defender, and was nominated as the chief judge of the King County (Wash.) Superior Court. Susan led the court through a difficult period in which she was the public face of the debate over a controversial new juvenile facility that she hoped would help overcome the systemic racism that she saw plaguing our juvenile justice system.

The Class of 1986 extends condolences to her son Daniel. Susan was an incredibly courageous woman and never flinched from the world’s fight. Her life and memory are a blessing.