OHIO community mourns the passing of Trustee Professor Emeritus Samuel Crowl

This article was updated on Sept. 27, 2024.

Ohio University mourns the passing of Trustee Professor of English Emeritus Samuel Crowl, Ph.D.

A memorial program, open to the community, will be held in the Margaret M. Walter Hall Rotunda on Friday, Oct. 11, from 2:30-4 p.m. Refreshments will be served following the memorial.

Crowl, who was a Shakespeare professor for generations of OHIO students and an architect of programs across the University, passed away on June 16, 2024. A part of the OHIO community since 1970, Crowl was an award-winning professor who also served as dean of the University College from 1981-1992.

“Sam is without doubt one of the most extraordinary men I have ever known,” said Tom Carpenter, Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Classics and founding director of the Charles J. Ping Institute for the Humanities.

“Full of energy, humor and optimism he could find light in even the darkest moments. His record of accomplishments as a teacher, an administrator and scholar, with an explosion of important publications in the past two decades, is well known.  But to me, even more impressive was his dedication to friends and his unwavering support of them no matter what.”

Crowl’s teaching and scholarly focus centered on Shakespeare on film, a specialization that he helped to launch globally. He was the author of seven books, the latest published in 2024, titled “Shakespeare and Baseball.” His classes were very popular, and he also led study abroad programs to experience Shakespeare and other drama on stage in London.

As dean of University College, Crowl co-built the university-wide General Education requirement, consulted on similar programs across the country, and was an accessible and hands-on dean.

With director Tom Carpenter, Crowl and the board built the Ping Institute for the Humanities into an active resource for university, regional, and state education. From its founding in 1994 to its current thriving leadership under Professor of Classics and director Fred Drogula, the Institute sustains a rich legacy from its founders.

Professor Drogula worked closely with Crowl. “Sam had already retired when I arrived at Ohio University in 2018, but he remained an active member of the Ping Institute. Long after his retirement, he was still offering frequent Ping Institute workshops on Shakespeare’s plays for groups of Ohio high school teachers, who eagerly came to Athens to spend the day working with Sam and absorbed his passion and knowledge on the topic. To hear Sam talk about Shakespeare was to hear at one time both a young man giddy with excitement about a topic and a sage professor who was a master of his subject,” said Drogula.

During his time with the Ping Institute for the Humanities, Crowl also created several teaching videos including these productions:

• Ping Moment: Plague in the Age of Shakespeare I
• Ping Moment: The Plague in the Age of Shakespeare II
• Ping Moment: Plague in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet
• Ping Moment: Hamlet and The Plague I
• Ping Moment: Hamlet and The Plague II

Crowl left lasting imprints on colleagues and community as well as on university programs and students. He was twice selected by students for the prestigious University Professor Award and was conferred the Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree at Ohio University’s 200^th Commencement in 2015.

English Department Professor and Chair Beth Quitslund said, “Sam was a shrewd and energetic administrator, a wildly successful teacher, a generous colleague, and a productive scholar who pursued his work because he loved it. I would be tempted to say that he was a model academic, except that he was too much himself to be a model of anything else. He and Susan were the center of the English Department as a community, including hosting enormous end-of-year gatherings on their lawn every June. My own feeling of welcome at the university and in Athens would have been very different without him.”

James Bruning, Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Provost during the Ping years, wrote, “He brought joy to so many in the Athens area and Ohio University through his marvelous intellect, friendly personality and incredible speaking ability. I used to call Charlie Ping on regular occasions and invariably, our conversations would turn to Sam and his much appreciated visits and conversations with Sam.”

Carey Snyder, Professor of English and fellow high school soccer fan wrote, “I admired his graceful balance of work and life, and his passion for theater, literature, soccer, and of course Shakespeare and baseball. He was a great role model of the scholarly life—of a life well lived, full stop.”

Elizabeth Story, Ohio University librarian and neighbor wrote, “He certainly batted a thousand. His friendliness is how I will remember him—beyond his scholarship and much loved teacherness. When working in my yard, he always gave a smile and a wave when he zipped by in any of the convertibles he drove over the years. As a man keeping small town spirit alive, I enjoyed seeing him walk his dog on the bike path, at music events and the Met broadcasts at the local theater.”

Susan Crowl, Professor of English, wife and companion in Sam’s polymath life and career, adds that their long life together echoed Robert Browning’s lines, “an age so blest that, by its side, Youth seems the waste instead.”

A Memorial and Celebration of Life will be held on Oct. 11, beginning at 2:30 p.m. in the Walter Hall Rotunda.  In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Ohio University Foundation in support of the Samuel and Susan Crowl Professorship. Checks can be sent to The Ohio University Foundation, P.O. Box 869, Athens, OH 45701, with “Crowl Professorship endowment” written on the memo line. Gifts can also be made at give.ohio.edu; type "Crowl" in “Make a selection or search for your Fund” section. For more information on Crowl please see Dr. Crowl's obituary.