Theodore Kroeber

Theodore C. Kroeber

May 8, 1923 - Feb 26, 2019

Theodore Charles Kroeber died at home in San Francisco on February 26, 2019. He was 95.
Ted was born on May 8, 1923 in Berkeley, California. He received both his BA degree (1951) in Psychology and PhD (1956) in Clinical Psychology from UC Berkeley. He interrupted his academic studies to serve with the Army Air Corps in WWII.
Ted joined the faculty at San Fransisco State in 1958. He became emeritus in 1992. As a Professor of Psychology he primarily taught introduction to psychology, quantitative reasoning, and statistics. He spent two years (1961-62) on leave from SFSU doing research with Henry Murray at Harvard Innovation Labs. During the 1960s he worked summers as a Peace Corps Selection Officer, training and selecting volunteers for the Philippines, Africa, and South America. On a second leave from 1971 to 72 he taught at Kresge College, UC Santa Cruz. In addition to public and private therapeutic consultation he worked closely with National Training Laboratories.
Ted was married three times. He was first married to Joan Rock and they raised a son, Karl and a daughter, Elizabeth. Later, he was married to Elise Weinstock and then to Candace Crockett.
Ted was passionate about a lot of things, but particularly about equality and fairness, with a lifelong devotion to education, social justice, peace and anti-war causes. He deeply loved his family and friends and had a wide-ranging interest in all of them. He had a keen and practical mind tempered by a playful, joyful and enthusiastic spirit. Ted enjoyed asking tough questions of himself and others, and relished a good discussion. He was meticulous, worked hard and loved the challenge of a good project. He practiced an overarching aesthetic of practical elegance, leaning toward a simple and lighthearted austerity in his general way of living. He was physically dynamic, a good athlete and a great walker. He loved music, a good glass of wine, and could dance with abandon. For over 30 years he and his friends Tom and Cati Howard and Elise Kroeber along with help from many others made their own wine in the Napa Valley in classic Italian country style.
He loved all things Italian and traveled extensively throughout Italy. In 1997 Ted and Candace bought their fist Italian house in Bagnone in an area called Lunigiana. They restored three homes, planted an olive orchard and a vineyard, and learned the language. They continued spending half of each year in their Italian home through 2017. Ted's declining health limited his ability to travel, but not to dream.
He was preceded in death by his father, Clifton Brown, his step-father Alfred Kroeber, his mother, Theodora Kroeber, brother Karl Kroeber and sister Ursula Le Guin. He is survived by his wife, Candace Crockett, his children, Karl and Elizabeth, grandsons Gavin and Logan, great- grandchildren Noa and Ezra and his brother, Clifton Kroeber.