Updated at 4:06 p.m., Thursday, October 18, 2007
Former Pacific Command chief Adm. Crowe dies
Advertiser Staff and News Services
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The retired admiral died overnight at Bethesda Naval Hospital, a Navy official confirmed this morning. The official, who requested anonymity to speak before the official announcement, did not know the cause of death.
With an academic bent, Crowe had sometimes wondered if his advanced degrees might stymie his Navy career, but after graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1946 advanced from diesel submarines to the post of chief of the Pacific Command.
President Reagan named him the 11th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1985. The year before, Crowe had impressed Reagan, who stopped in Hawai'i en route to China for a briefing from Crowe on the military situation in the Far East.
Crowe retired from the military in 1989.
Former Hawaii Gov. George Ariyoshi remembered Crowe as "a very caring, eloquent and knowledgeable person."
Ariyoshi said Crowe responded to suggestions to make a special effort to include the leaders of small and emerging Pacific-area nations in discussions on defense issue.
"Prior to that, the smaller nations were often overlooked. But when Adm. Crowe would have briefings, he made it a point to invite smaller nations and that did so much to boost their morale by being included in those discussions," said Ariyoshi, who was governor from December 1974 to December 1986.
Some of the good relations the U.S. enjoys today with various Pacific nations are the results of efforts Crowe set in motion during his time as commander in chief of Pacific forces, Ariyoshi said. He said he would meet with Crowe on occasion beginning in 1979 and into the early 1980s.
"Another thing that so impressed about Admiral Crowe was his knowledge of issues around the world, not just in the Pacific," Ariyoshi said.
"When I learned that he had been appointed chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, I thought our country would be well served by Bill Crowe," Ariyoshi said.
In 1994, President Clinton appointed Crowe ambassador to the Court of St. James's, where he served until 1997.
Born in La Grange, Ky, William J. Crowe Jr. grew up in Oklahoma City, Okla.
In addition to his degree from the Naval Academy, he held a master's degree in personnel administration from Stanford University and a master's and doctorate in politics from Princeton University.
