Walt Crowley papers, 1960-2002

Walter C. Crowley (June 20, 1947 - September 21, 2007), journalist, community activist, policy planner, communications consultant, artist, author.

Walter “Walt” Crowley moved to Seattle with his family as a teenager. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in 1965 and attended the University of Washington for two years, where he became involved in local antiwar and civil rights campaigns and developed his sense of community activism. In 1967, he joined the staff of the underground newspaper Helix, where he worked for three years as a cartoonist, writer, and editor. From 1970 to 1972 Crowley was the director of the U District Center, a youth hostel and social service agency established in the aftermath of the 1969 University District riots. From 1972 to 1977 Crowley worked in various capacities for the City of Seattle—Director of Neighborhood Services, head of the Citizen Service Bureau, and Deputy Director of the Office of Policy Planning—and was considered the city’s chief citizen participation expert.

In 1980 Crowley, along with his future wife, Marie McCaffrey, and two other partners, founded Crowley Associates, Inc., a communications consultancy with a focus on political and labor communications. In 1984 he joined the staff of the Seattle Weekly as a columnist and feature writer, and in 1985 he was hired by the Seattle Municipal League to work on special projects and ultimately became the organization’s policy director, a position he held until 1988. In the meantime, Crowley teamed up with conservative commentator John Carlson for “Point-Counterpoint,” biweekly debates broadcast on KIRO-TV’s evening news program from 1986 to 1993. Crowley led the successful public campaign to save Seattle’s historic Blue Moon Tavern from demolition in 1990, and chaired Mayor Norm Rice’s task force on historic downtown theaters. He was elected president of Allied Arts of Seattle in 1992, and was Governor Mike Lowry’s lead speech writer in 1993-1994.

Crowley authored or coauthored over a dozen books on Seattle area history and institutions, and in the late 1990s he, Marie McCaffrey, and the historian Paul Dorpat decided to create a comprehensive historical encyclopedia for Seattle and King County and to put it online. Supported by funding from a number of public and private sponsors, HistoryLink.org launched in January 1999. The website grew over the next several years and received many awards, as did Crowley.

Crowley was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 2005. After two years of treatment, he died from complications after a surgery related to his illness.