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Crowley had been battling cancer of the larynx for some time. He died Friday. His was a great, liberal voice. He will be missed.
nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=webcrowley21m&date=20070922&query=crowley%2C+walter
A voice, pen and institutional memory of the city has gone silent. Walt Crowley, chronicler of Seattle's people, places and things, died Friday night after a stroke. He was 60.
In four decades spanning student revolution and the information revolution, Mr. Crowley went from campus radical to the city's most prominent citizen historian, co-founding and running HistoryLink.org, an online encyclopedia of Washington state history...
More than passive observer, Mr. Crowley drew from the past to serve as oracle for the future. As he wrote in a 2000 Seattle Times editorial: "Our faith in reason and progress -- our belief that tomorrow is not merely yesterday dressed up in modern costume -- demands that we recognize the full humanity, good and bad, of those who came before us and that we tread carefully in blazing the trails leading to the future our own children will inherit."
Mr. Crowley, in his trademark bow tie, served as a conscience of the city -- as city planner, local television commentator, speechwriter to a former governor. In his final, and possibly most lasting role, he served as public historian through the Web site and in a dozen books he and his wife collaborated on, including the histories of the Rainier Club, the Blue Moon Tavern and Seattle University.
"He really, truly loved Seattle, and he dedicated the latter part of his life to trying to capture it for everybody," said his wife, Marie McCaffrey.
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