Richard Francis Earl Crang
Services
Obituary
Richard Francis Earl Crang (81) passed away on April 13, 2018 at his home in La Grange Highlands, IL. He is survived by his wife Mary; two sons, Steven (Diane) and Douglas (Kate); four grandsons, Alexander, Eliot, Evan and Nathaniel; and three adult step-sons. He was preceded in death by his half-sister, Shereë North, a motion picture, Broadway play and television star; and his half-brother, Richard A. Crang, a World-War II marine and later a public-school teacher.
Born in Clinton, IL, he was raised in Los Angeles, CA and in Danville, IL. He was a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, and received his master’s degree at the University of South Dakota and his Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Iowa. He later carried out a year of post-doctoral work in Botany and Physiology at Clare Hall of the University of Cambridge, England.
He held academic positions at Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH), Bowling Green State University (OH), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and The City University of New York. At UIUC, he served for 12 years as the Director of the Center for Electron Microscopy; two years as Associate Head of the Department of Plant Biology; and over two years as a Faculty Fellow in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Crang received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship to support his pioneering work in the development of an online course and electronic textbook in Plant Anatomy. He later guided development of the first online academic courses in Nursing and Pharmacy at the University of Illinois.
He served for several years as a member and Chair of the National Research Council graduate fellowship committee for the National Science Foundation. He was sponsored by the Federal EPA and the US Department of State to carry out research work at the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) Russia during the 1980s. He also held residential research appointments in microscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dr. Crang is the only U.S. Plant Biologist to be awarded Fellowship status by the International Society of Environmental Botanists. While at Bowling Green State University, he was the first recipient of the University’s Outstanding Research Award. Later, Dr. Crang was named the second recipient of the Outstanding Service Award of the Electron Microscopy Society of America.
He has been the author/co-author of six textbooks, over 70 academic papers, and over one hundred abstracts, short papers and submitted contributions in the fields of microscopy and plant biology. His most recent work has been as co-author for a just-completed comprehensive textbook on Plant Anatomy.
As Professor Emeritus, he carried out humanitarian missionary work in Colombia and was on the instructional faculty at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea. Relentlessly curious, he traveled to 41 countries where he eagerly engaged with local people and enthusiastically explored local cultures. He was a lover, collector, and supporter of art.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and served as Deacon and Elder at the Riverside, IL Presbyterian Church.
Visitation with the family will be Tuesday, April 17, 2018 from 1:00 P.M. to time of service 2 P.M. at Hitzeman Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 9445 W. 31st St., Brookfield, Illinois 60513. Interment Private. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Plant Biology Annual Fund in the Dept. of Plant Biology at UIUC in Dr. Crang’s name at sib.illinois.edu/alumni/donations or Department of Plant Biology, 265 Morrill Hall, MC-116, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801. Information 708-485-2000 or www.HitzemanFuneral.com
Born in Clinton, IL, he was raised in Los Angeles, CA and in Danville, IL. He was a graduate of Eastern Illinois University, and received his master’s degree at the University of South Dakota and his Ph.D. in Botany at the University of Iowa. He later carried out a year of post-doctoral work in Botany and Physiology at Clare Hall of the University of Cambridge, England.
He held academic positions at Wittenberg University (Springfield, OH), Bowling Green State University (OH), the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and The City University of New York. At UIUC, he served for 12 years as the Director of the Center for Electron Microscopy; two years as Associate Head of the Department of Plant Biology; and over two years as a Faculty Fellow in the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs.
Dr. Crang received an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship to support his pioneering work in the development of an online course and electronic textbook in Plant Anatomy. He later guided development of the first online academic courses in Nursing and Pharmacy at the University of Illinois.
He served for several years as a member and Chair of the National Research Council graduate fellowship committee for the National Science Foundation. He was sponsored by the Federal EPA and the US Department of State to carry out research work at the Komarov Botanical Institute in St. Petersburg (formerly Leningrad) Russia during the 1980s. He also held residential research appointments in microscopy at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund, Germany and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland.
Dr. Crang is the only U.S. Plant Biologist to be awarded Fellowship status by the International Society of Environmental Botanists. While at Bowling Green State University, he was the first recipient of the University’s Outstanding Research Award. Later, Dr. Crang was named the second recipient of the Outstanding Service Award of the Electron Microscopy Society of America.
He has been the author/co-author of six textbooks, over 70 academic papers, and over one hundred abstracts, short papers and submitted contributions in the fields of microscopy and plant biology. His most recent work has been as co-author for a just-completed comprehensive textbook on Plant Anatomy.
As Professor Emeritus, he carried out humanitarian missionary work in Colombia and was on the instructional faculty at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology in North Korea. Relentlessly curious, he traveled to 41 countries where he eagerly engaged with local people and enthusiastically explored local cultures. He was a lover, collector, and supporter of art.
He was a member of the Presbyterian Church and served as Deacon and Elder at the Riverside, IL Presbyterian Church.
Visitation with the family will be Tuesday, April 17, 2018 from 1:00 P.M. to time of service 2 P.M. at Hitzeman Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 9445 W. 31st St., Brookfield, Illinois 60513. Interment Private. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Plant Biology Annual Fund in the Dept. of Plant Biology at UIUC in Dr. Crang’s name at sib.illinois.edu/alumni/donations or Department of Plant Biology, 265 Morrill Hall, MC-116, 505 South Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801. Information 708-485-2000 or www.HitzemanFuneral.com