Charles Lewis Crum, Sr.

Mr. Charles Lewis Crum, Sr. "Charlie", 92, of Frederick, died Thursday, January 7, 2021 at Frederick Health hospital one day short of his 93rd birthday.  He was the husband of the late Frances "Fran" Crum, who preceded him in death in 2006.

Charlie grew up on West Patrick St in Frederick and spent his time playing with family and friends in Baker Park, fishing in Carroll Creek, and ice skating on Culler Lake in the winter.  He attended Parkway Elementary School and graduated from Frederick High School in 1945.  At age 17, he left Frederick for college at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore at the same time as the campus was filled with returning veterans from WWII.  This first attempt at college was dominated more by youthful hijinx (such as stealing the University of Maryland terrapin and bringing it back to the Homewood campus) than academics and he dropped out after several years.  He returned to Frederick and worked at Ft. Detrick as a draftsman until he met Fran who was appearing at the Mountain Theatre in Braddock Heights with a professional acting company from New York. In short order, he convinced Fran to stay in Frederick and marry him rather than returning to New York and convinced Dean Roy of the Johns Hopkins University School of Engineering to readmit Charlie with a full scholarship.

After receiving academic accolades and two degrees from Johns Hopkins, he joined Western Electric in Baltimore before returning to Frederick again to work at Ft. Detrick in the US Army's biological weapons programs and later the Army Health Services Data Systems Agency where he was recognized for helping Arthur Herzog write "The Swarm" which became a major motion picture. After retiring from the government in 1985, he began working at PRI (now Leidos) as the founder and Director of the National Cancer Institute's Advanced Scientific Computing Laboratory which provided the first supercomputer to support biomedical research.

Charlie lived in Braddock Heights for 50 years in the house he designed and drew the blueprints for until moving to Buckingham's Choice after a serious fall.  He and Fran travelled to six continents and spent extensive time in Australia following the Sunraycer in the World Solar Car Challenge which was managed by a former friend and colleague, George Ettenheim. He was an avid fisherman, University of Maryland sports fan, and golfer and had been a member of both the VFW and Holly Hills golf clubs.  He loved the many dogs and cats he had starting with his German Shepherd "Heidi" who became famous in Frederick for her amazing escape feats during thunderstorms.  He loved theatre and poetry and, inspired by Winston Churchill's recitation in Frederick to Franklin Roosevelt in 1943, was able to fully recite the John Greenleaf Whittier poem "Barbara Frietchie" on demand into his late 80's. The poem talks about Frederick – the town he loved his whole life.

He is survived by his son, Charles Crum, Jr. and wife Pamela, granddaughters, Charlotte Crum and Grace Crum, sister, Marilyn Castle and her husband Russ Castle, sister-in-law Dolly Crum, and numerous close nieces and nephews.

The family will receive friends from 10am to 11am, on Tuesday, January 12, 2021 at the Keeney & Basford Funeral Home, 106 E. Church Street, Frederick, MD 21701. The funeral service will be private. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, face masks and social distancing will be required.

Online condolences may be shared at www.keeneybasford.com.