Endowment honors late Cronkite grad

Troy and Betsy Crowder of Chandler, Ariz., are honoring the life and spirit of their late son, a photojournalist and ASU graduate, by creating a photojournalism endowment in his name at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

Greg Crowder, a 1980 ASU journalism alumnus and longtime photojournalist at the Riverside Press Enterprise in California, died in 2005.

“Starting the endowment seemed like a really good way to memorialize our son,” says Troy Crowder, a retired Cronkite School professor who also worked in ASU’s president’s office. “The endowment will be there forever.”

Funds from the endowment will provide general support for the photojournalism program, including funding photojournalism equipment and visits from professionals.

In addition, a portion of the Greg Crowder Photojournalism Endowment will fund a contest for Cronkite School students. The winner of the annual Greg Crowder Memorial Photojournalism Award will receive a $1,000 prize. Each of the five finalists’ photos will be displayed at the school each year.

Christopher Callahan, the Cronkite School’s dean, says the Crowders’ generous gift is “a wonderful way” to remember their son.
“We are extremely honored that Troy and Betsy have chosen to support our photojournalism students as a way to celebrate Greg’s life,” Callahan says. “It’s a gift that will inspire photojournalism students here for generations to come.”

While a student at ASU, Greg Crowder worked for the State Press, ASU’s independent student newspaper, and interned with the Arizona Republic, his father says.

He says one of his son’s favorite instructors was Con Keyes, who taught photojournalism and now works as a photographer for the Los Angeles Times.

Keyes says Greg Crowder was a kind and considerate person, as a student and later as a fellow photographer.

“He was a no-nonsense professional who was held in high esteem by his peers and was loved by friends,” Keyes says. “He took great pride in the success of those he worked with. Greg was not an ‘I’ person; he was a ‘we’ person.”

By setting up the endowment, Keyes says, the Crowders have helped ensure that future photojournalism students will have the same opportunities that Greg had.