Lewis Eugene Cronin, considered one of the pre-eminent bay scientists of this century and a blue crab expert who had studied the species since the 1950s, died of heart failure Friday at his home in Annapolis. The retired director of the University of Maryland's environmental research laboratories was 81.
"He developed the framework for much of the action that's taken place in the cleanup of the Chesapeake through good science [and] good communication," said Don Baugh, vice president of education for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. "He was always an icon."
From the time he joined the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory in the 1940s, Mr. Cronin lent his expertise to a great number of organizations and institutions, including the Chesapeake Research Consortium, the Committee for the Scientific Exploration of the Atlantic Shelf and the University of Delaware at Lewes, where he established a marine laboratory. Mr. Cronin also worked internationally, serving with the Navy's research office in London in the mid-1960s.
He had a hand in so many activities that, at his retirement, a colleague presented him with a mock Time magazine cover with Mr. Cronin's photograph, his likeness embellished with octopus tentacles.
"Gene Cronin was kind of my mentor in a number of ways," said the colleague, Joe Mihursky, an ecologist and professor at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. "There was a tremendous amount of respect for the individual and for what he was trying to do and the sincerity of what he was trying to do. He was a good leader."
Born in Aberdeen, Mr. Cronin graduated from Aberdeen High School and in 1938 earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Western Maryland College. In 1943, he earned his master's degree in zoology at the University of Maryland, where he also received his doctorate in the subject.
Mr. Cronin taught biology for five years at Bel Air High School before becoming a biologist at Chesapeake Biological Laboratory. Alice Cronin, his wife of more than 50 years, said that was where he picked up a passion for studying the bay and the blue crab.
"That was when he got hooked," said the former Alice Webber, who met her husband while she was working as an analytical chemist at the Aberdeen Proving Ground. "That was what he wanted to do."
Mr. Cronin once said the crab is "our last great fishery, and our test species for effective management. If we fall short of good management for this species, it is difficult to imagine real success for any species in the bay."
Mr. Cronin was one of three prominent bay scientists of the time -- including Bill Hargis and Donald Pritchard -- referred to informally as "the troika." He is credited with establishing what is now the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, which grew out of the school's Natural Resources Institute.
Though highly regarded in academic circles, Mr. Cronin was lauded by his colleagues for his ability to educate and inspire the average person to care about the Chesapeake, even after he formally retired from the University of Maryland in the 1970s.
"I think the most important thing about Gene Cronin is that he has been an excellent educator of the public," said Pritchard, who spent 30 years at the Johns Hopkins University. "I think that's one of his greatest legacies."
"He had an amazing ability to contact and discuss things with local watermen and at the same time [was] a quite eloquent spokesman and had quite a rapport with the political leaders," said Donald Boesch, president of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Research. "He was very good at it."
Mihursky noted that Mr. Cronin was always impeccably dressed. "Often he was called the 'Silver Fox,' or 'Clean Gene,' " Mihursky said.
In 1994, he won the prestigious Mathias Medal for bay science, named in honor of former Sen. Charles McC. Mathias. In previous years, Mr. Cronin won the Estuarine Research Federation's Presidential Award and the Conservationist of the Year Award from the Maryland Sportsmen's Luncheon Club.
Aside from his numerous scientific endeavors, Mr. Cronin collected duck decoys and crab figurines and enjoyed sailing and photography. He was a member of several organizations, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Society of Zoologists and the Atlantic Estuarine Research Society, which he served as past president.
Visitation is scheduled from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday at John M. Taylor Funeral Home, 147 Duke of Gloucester St. in Annapolis. Services are private. The family asks that contributions be sent to either of the following organizations: The Bay Ridge Trust, P.O. Box 4096, Annapolis, 21403; The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 162 Prince George St., Annapolis, 21401; or Friends of the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, P.O. Box 38, Solomons, 20688.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Cronin is survived by three sons, John Arthur Cronin of Invermere, British Columbia, David Webber Cronin of Annapolis and Lewis Eugene Cronin Jr. of Annapolis; a brother, William Baker Cronin of Annapolis; and four grandchildren.
Pub Date: 12/20/98