Fran Sampson

1925 - 2017

Fran Crofts Sampson

March 3, 1925 - October 3, 2017

On October 3, 2017, Fran Crofts Sampson passed away in Berkeley, at the age of 92. Born to Henrietta and Arthur Crofts, Fran grew up in Cleveland, along with her older sister Patricia Crofts Furrer Saunders.
Fran received her undergraduate degree from Radcliffe College and her Masters Degree in Psychology from Bryn Mawr College. She moved to Berkeley to attend the PhD program in Clinical Psychology at U.C. Berkeley.
It was there that Fran met her lifelong love, Hal Sampson. Fran's wedding to Hal and graduation with a PhD occurred within a few days from each other. Fran and Hal moved to El Cerrito, where they raised two sons, Mickey and Lawrence Sampson.
Fran was a psychoanalyst with practices in San Francisco and Berkeley. She was a long-time member of the Friday Research Group of the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Institute. Fran and Hal retired from their psychoanalytic careers at age 80.
Fran was passionate about civil rights. She loved all kinds of music, from opera to the Beatles. She loved learning about the world and the people who inhabit it.
Fran was preceded in death by her husband Hal. She will be missed by her two sons, their wives, her six grandchildren, her California nephew Stephen Furrer, the rest of her family and all of those who knew her optimism and her smile. Her family would like to thank her dear friend Linda Banta and the staff of Chaparral House, who were so kind to her in her last years.
A memorial service will be held on Monday, October 9th, at 1:00 p.m., at Sunset View Cemetery, 101 Colusa Ave., El Cerrito, California. Donations in her memory may be made to the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, which Fran joined in 1950.