John Crowley

1941 - 2025

John ("Jack") Crowley was born September 4, 1941 in Batavia, NY. The second son of Margaret Polee and Bernard Crowley, he was raised in Phelps, NY where he lettered in football at Phelps High School. Jack worked his way through St. John Fisher College being a live-in nanny for a family with eight children, but also found time to sing in the glee club and was a member of Pi Gamma Mu, social science honor society. He graduated with a degree in Economics in 1963.

After a brief stint as a medical supply salesman, Jack became an admissions representative for his alma mater in 1965. Through this he met his future wife, Ellen, at college night in a high school gym in Pittsburgh. They married on May 25, 1968. Their daughter Kathleen was born a year later.

Jack returned to school and earned a Ph.D from Syracuse University in Higher Education Administration. In 1973, the family moved to Washington, DC when he was hired to the staff of the Association of American Universities. Son Michael joined the family in 1974.

Jack spent the first half of his professional life advocating for federal funding for science and research as the Director of Federal Relations for Science and Research (later Vice President) at the AAU. In 1990, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) President Dr. Charles Vest hired Jack to establish MIT's Washington office, which he ran for 15 years, retiring in 2005.

Jack and Ellen were active members of Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Georgetown, where Jack served on the Parish Council and was its president from 1983 to 1985. For nearly 30 years, the family spent time every summer at Bethany Beach in Delaware. They added the Chautauqua Institution to the list of favorite places in 1999, and over the years, increased the number of weeks spent on the grounds, until Jack and Ellen were spending their full summers at Chautauqua. He and Ellen moved to Charlottesville in 2010 to be closer to their four grandsons.

Jack was an active member in the AA 12 step program for 48 years.

Jack was preceded in death by his parents, brothers Joseph Crowley and Bernard Crowley, Jr. He is survived by his wife of 57 years, Ellen, his children Kathleen Olowin (Aaron) and Michael Crowley (Miranda Zola) and four grandsons, Matthew, Ryan, Tristan and Griffin Olowin.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday October 8th at 1 p.m. at St. Paul's Ivy Church. Leave condolences at hillandwood.com. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Jack's name to the Washington Jesuit Academy (www.wjacademy.org).