The Academy was deeply saddened to receive the news of Professor Tony Crook’s sudden passing at the end of last month after a very short illness. Tony contributed enormous expertise, energy and enthusiasm to the Academy over several decades both formally, and informally supporting Stephen Anderson as Executive Director and Rita Gardner as Chief Executive. During two six-year terms on the Council, he helped the Academy flourish into what it is today. Alongside Michael Harloe, he was a driving force behind the establishment of the Campaign for Social Science and served as its inaugural chair. These strong foundations were fundamental to the Campaign’s wide-ranging breadth of work it currently encompasses. Tony was also a steady guiding hand on many of the Academy’s committees, including being a strong voice for practitioner social scientists among the Fellowship and the first Chair of the Practitioner Fellow Search Committee. He truly believed in the Academy and what we stand for.
Tony was a remarkable champion for the social sciences community more widely too, especially in his chosen field of planning research and practice and in university senior management. The Academy joins with those wider communities in saying how privileged we are to have had his expertise, commitment and support in so many ways. We pass our heartfelt condolences on to his family, friends and colleagues.
An obituary is available on the Royal Town Planning Institute website.