Obituary for Andrew Crook in Rocky Mountain News
Andrew Crook died Saturday. That we knew. His cause of death? We aren’t told by a long obituary in the Rocky Mountain News. That lends credence to hints at letsrun.com that he committed suicide. At least when national-class racewalker Al Heppner threw himself off a bridge near San Diego, the local paper told the full truth. Andrew’s hometown paper in Boulder merely ran a brief death notice. His memorial service was today.
Should the Rocky Mountain News link expire, here’s the story:
Scientist Andrew Crook embraced rainstorms – and ran like the wind
Andrew Crook, 47, worked for the National Center for Atmospheric
Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News
February 15, 2006
Scientist, athlete and friend, Andrew Crook warmed each circle he inhabited for 47 years.
Mr. Crook, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder whose modeling of Rocky Mountain rainstorms helped predict which storms would cause Midwest flooding, died Saturday.
Mr. Crook also was an elite runner.
Six years ago, he ran 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) in 15:00.90, giving him a ranking of 12th in the world for runners older than 40.
He still holds the speed record in the “Up the Hill” annual run from the bottom of Table Mesa Road to the entrance to NCAR.
“He was happiest when he was running, and when he was with family,” said longtime partner Carol Park. “He loved his nieces and nephews and my daughter, Kelsey.”
N. Andrew Crook was born in Melbourne, Australia, on Oct. 29, 1958. He got his bachelor’s degree in Melbourne, his Ph.D at Imperial College in London, and did post-graduate work at Princeton University.
Running friend and NCAR colleague David Albo said, “Andrew represented the best in what it means to be a runner.
“He was fiercely competitive and highly successful, yet he also provided a gently motivating and positive influence” that touched the entire Boulder running community.
He ran the mile several times in under 4:30 into his early 40s, and had several top-10 finishes in the Bolder Boulder citizen’s race. He once ran a 2-hour, 25-minute marathon.
At NCAR, Mr. Crook was a member of the Mesoscale and Microscale Meteorology Division, specializing in the giant showers and thunderstorms that flood the Midwest after originating in the Rocky Mountains.
His work with Donna Tucker of the University of Kansas helped find a key to which storms would likely flood the plains.
Mr. Crook and Tucker used NCAR modeling computers to discover that the strength of intense downdrafts from the mountains, coupled with the intensity of ice crystals at cloud level, are good predictors of what kind of storm will hit the Plains.
The breakthrough, published in Monthly Weather Review, should help forecasters predict severe storm systems far enough in advance to give warning to farmers.
Richard Rotunno, deputy director of NCAR’s MMM division, said Mr. Crook did some of the early important work showing how the lower promontories, such as Palmer Divide and Cheyenne Ridge, play an important part in creating the tornadoes along the Front Range and eastern plains of Colorado.
“He was extremely solid,” Rotunno said. “You really valued his judgment about things. He was very thorough and methodical, yet, at the same time, very creative at attacking interesting problems.”
And yet, friends remember him most for his modesty and his small kindnesses – coaching a friend’s middle-school soccer team or remembering a birthday.
“He loved to make movies,” Park said.
He was always in the background at parties or get-togethers. But often, he was quietly working his camera, making a film that would touch someone in a special way.
“My daughter’s best friend, Sarah, had never ridden a horse, so he took us all up to Estes Park and bought us all rides,” Park said.
Instead of joining them, Andrew lurked behind, made a film of Sarah riding a horse, added music to it and presented it to her as a gift.
“He had a big heart,” Park said. “He loved being a scientist. One thing I loved about him is how much he loved his work.
“He could also sew,” she added. “He taught my daughter how to sew, not me.”
He is survived by his partner, Carol Park;, her daughter, Kelsey; his father, Douglas; his brother, Colin; his sisters, Margaret and Heather, and 10 nieces and nephews.
“A gentle man at peace,” the family in Australia said in an e-mail.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to the Andrew Crook Memorial Fund, First National Bank of Colorado, 515 McCaslin Blvd., Louisville, CO 80027. The plan is for a memorial bench along one of Crook’s favorite running paths.
A memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Friday at St. Mary Magdalene Episcopal Church, 4775 Cambridge, in Boulder.