William J. Crowe Jr. *65

Adm. William J. Crowe Jr. *65, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and U.S. ambassador to Great Britain, died Oct. 18, 2007. He was 82.

Crowe graduated from the Naval Academy in 1946 and received a master’s in education from Stanford in 1956 and a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton in 1965 (as a Harold W. Dodds *14 Fellow).

By 1980, Crowe was NATO commander for Southern Europe, and then took over the U.S. Pacific Command. President Reagan, on his way to China in 1985, stopped in Hawaii and received a briefing from Crowe that so impressed him that he chose the admiral as the next Joint Chiefs chairman. Crowe served for four years until retiring in 1989. In 1994, President Clinton appointed Crowe ambassador to Britain, where he served until 1997. From 1997 to 2000, Crowe was an alumni trustee of Princeton University.

Crowe’s term as Joint Chiefs chairman was noted for his successful agreements with the Soviet military and for balancing interservice rivalries, as well as handling the 1986 retaliatory bombing strike in Libya and the 1988 shooting down of an Iranian jetliner over the Persian Gulf.

He is survived by Shirley, his wife of 53 years, two sons, and one daughter.