Robert S. Crumrine ’57

Robert S. Crumrine ’57 died peacefully on August 8. Bob graduated from Buchtel High School in Akron, Ohio. At Dartmouth he majored in biology and then earned his M.D. from the University of Rochester and was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Medical Corps as dispensary chief at Little Creek, Virginia. Bob’s career was in academic medicine and anesthesiology. He began as an instructor in anesthesiology at the University of Rochester. He was in pediatric medicine at the University Hospitals in Cleveland and by 1982 moved on to Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis, Tennessee, and served on the faculty of the University of Tennessee. He was one of the first pediatric anesthesiologists in the country, a pioneer who changed the way babies and children are treated in the operating room with the creation of endotracheal tubes specifically for babies and child-friendly pre-op patient care, including murals down the hallways and introduction of flavored anesthesia for children. In 1985, he moved to Augusta, Georgia, to become professor and chairman of anesthesiology at the Medical College of Georgia. He participated in planning of the Children’s Hospital of Georgia and helped to establish the certified registered nurse anesthetist program. Bob was an active Episcopalian on the vestry of three churches, sang in the choir, and was a diocese representative. He was a Rotary Paul Harris fellow. He is survived by Patricia, his wife of 62 years; daughter Rebecca; son Andrew; and their families.