Robert D. Crassweller

Robert D. Crassweller, 88, died July 18, 2004 of pulmonary edema. He was born Sept. 17, 1915, the son of Mary and Arthur Crassweller. Mr. Crassweller attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minn., graduating Phi Beta Kappa with Special Honors in History. He went on to obtain his law degree from Harvard Law School in 1941. As a young attorney, Mr. Crassweller engaged in the private practice of law in Duluth and then moved to Washington, D.C. in 1943 to work for the State Department's Division of World Trade Intelligence. Following the war, he returned to Duluth to resume the private practice of law. From 1951 to 1953, he participated in a mining venture in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. In 1954, he became counsel for Pam American World Airways in New York City; he remained at Pan Am until 1966. From 1967 to 1969 he served as a Visiting Fellow on the Council of Foreign Relations in New York City, and he testified as an expert witness before the Committee on Foreign Affairs, United States House of Representatives, in Washington D.C. In 1970-1971, he was a Visiting Professor at both Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn College. During the latter part of his career, he worked for International Telephone and Telegraph, where he rose to become General Counsel for ITT Latin America. Over a 16 year period, Mr. Crassweller reviewed some 700 books for Foreign Affairs, the magazine of the Council on Foreign Relations; he was also a reviewer for the New York Times book section. As a noted scholarly author and expert on Latin America, he wrote three books; Peron and the Enigmas of Argentina, published by W.W. Norton & Company, Ltd. In 1987; the Caribbean Community, published for the Council on Foreign Relations by Pall Mall Press, Ltd. In 1972; and Trujillo; The Life and Times of a Caribbean Dictator, published by The Macmillan Company in 1966. The New York Times had this to say about the Trujillo book: 'This is (Crassweller's) first book, but it is hard to see how it could have been done better.' And, from the New York Times Book Review: 'Yet here we have a small miracle... the best work on Trujillo, the man, and the Dominican Republic, the country, that we have or are likely to get in the years immediately ahead.' Economist John Kenneth Galbraith wrote: 'I suppose everyone has told you what a subtle, elegant and penetrating account you have written of TRUJILLO. But let me also add my word. This combination of artistry and craftsmanship happens only about once every five years.' Mr. Crassweller and his wife retired to Chapel Hill, N.C. in 1987. He was recently predeceased by his wife of 62 years, Molly Crassweller, in April, 2004. A loving husband and father, he is survived by a son, Peter Clarke Crassweller of Chapel Hill; and two daughters, Pamela Ann Baldino, also of Chapel Hill, and Dr. Karen Doell Crassweller of Arlington, Va.; as well as three grandchildren.

Tags: obituaries