By Geoff Fein
Adm. William Crowe, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, died yesterday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Crowe, who was 82, served as chairman from 1985 to 1989.
“Every man and woman of the U.S. military joins me in mourning the death of retired Adm. William Crowe, Vietnam and Cold War veteran and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,” said Adm. Michael Mullen, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “As we mourn his passing, so too should we reflect on his contributions to our national security– of the thousands of lives he guided, the careers he mentored, the difference he made simply by virtue of his leadership. We are a stronger, more capable military today in large part because of his efforts to make us so. We would all do well to remember that and to never forget the remarkable legacy of this truly humble, truly noble man.”
Mullen is the first Navy admiral to become chairman since Crowe.
According to the Pentagon, Crowe was the first chairman to serve under the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Department Reorganization Act of 1986 that made the chairman the principal military adviser to the president, defense secretary and the rest of the National Security Council.
Crowe was born on Jan. 2, 1925 in La Grange, Ky. He attended the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946 with the class of 1947, according to his biography.
He is survived by his wife, daughter and two sons.