Former Joint Chiefs Chairman William Crowe Dies at 82

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The New York Sun

WASHINGTON — William Crowe, an Annapolis-trained submarine officer who rose to chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and served as ambassador to Britain, has died at age 82.

The retired admiral died early yesterday at Bethesda Naval Hospital, the Navy announced. No cause of death was released immediately.

“We lost a true hero last night … a distinguished naval officer, diplomat, leader, mentor [who] served both Presidents Reagan and Bush,” Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a Pentagon news conference.

At 44, he volunteered for duty in Vietnam. Years later, as only the third admiral to chair the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Crowe presided over the military conflict with Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, the Navy’s protection of oil tankers in the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war and a groundbreaking series of meetings with his Soviet counterpart as the Cold War thawed in the late 1980s.

Born in La Grange, Ky., William Crowe Jr. grew up in Oklahoma City. In addition to his degree from the naval academy, he had a master’s in personnel administration from Stanford University and a master’s and doctorate in politics from Princeton University.


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