Wednesday, April 23, 2025

A00097 - Edward David Crockett, Jr., Amherst College Class of 1958, Dunbar High Grad, Howard Medical School Alum, and Jazz Musician Extraordinaire

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Amherst Relatives

  • Mary Alice J. Crockett W'58 (d)
No data available

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EDWARD CROCKETT (1937-1985)

Ed Crockett was perhaps the most gifted instrumental musician in the Class. He was a popular musical director of the College Sixteen, a member of the Band and social chairman of Phi Psi. He majored in music while completing pre-med studies, demonstrating the unusual combination of interests that marked his life.

Ed came to Amherst from Dunbar High School in Washington, D.C., and returned to Washington to complete medical studies at Howard University, specializing in pulmonary diseases. After a twoyear tour in the Navy at Great Lakes Naval Hospital, he returned to Washington to join Howard’s medical faculty. He enjoyed teaching and soon became vice-chairman of the Department of Medicine for student medical education. Some Howard students had to work parttime as they pursued medical school full-time. Ed developed successful programs so they would not fall behind in their studies and clinical skill development.

In 1969, Ed also began a private practice in internal medicine and pulmonary diseases. When the practice grew substantially, Ed finally gave up his teaching to devote full time to it.

He met his second wife, Dr. Mary Alice Johnson Crockett, in medical school. She remembers that Ed “prized his Amherst education and his degree in music. Music always remained an integral part of his life. He played gigs throughout the medical school and residency years. He played the saxophone and clarinet less and less  and the piano more. During medical school he retained a regular Thursday night gig at the Bohemian Taverns on U Street. After this period he became a musical spectator! We attended jazz performances almost every weekend.”

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He was also an amateur photographer and pursued this hobby with a passion. “He created art with the camera,” Mary Alice says. “Some of his works decorate the walls of our home.”

Ed died in 1985 when his younger children were still in high school, but his legacy lives on in their life choices. His oldest daughter Sharon studied at Johns Hopkins and Columbia. With her MBA she has had a successful career in the securities industry, most recently as a senior portfolio research analyst with Western Asset Management.

Mary Alice’s younger children, Teddy and Alison, were “saturated” with music “from the uterus onward and music has become their life’s work!” Both have web sites. Teddy studied music at Morehouse, Howard and Berklee College of Music. He owns The Crockett Gallery, a company that produces and manages musicians and music groups – including sister Alison. Teddy’s performing gifts are multi-instrumental with emphasis on guitar. He has performed with groups all over the world and with his sister.

Alison is a vocalist who studied voice at Syracuse University and jazz performance at Temple and Manhattan School of Music. She too has toured extensively, and also is on the faculty at George Washington University. She formerly conducted a choir that appeared on the Today Show and in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. Mary Alice knows that Ed would have been ”greatly excited” about these musical careers.

Mary Alice pursued a distinguished medical career of her own. She continued Ed’s practice while simultaneously serving as Medical Director of the D.C. Home Care Services Bureau and later the D.C. Village Nursing Center. She’s been “almost retired” since 2004. “ I am more involved as a grandmother [Sharon’s daughter], a cheerleader for our children, and as the health minister of our church. I provide volunteer medical care in Mississippi.”

Edward David Crockett Jr. died of colon cancer Dec. 12, 1985.

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Ed with his son, Teddy, in the summer
of 1985, at Ed's sister-in-law's
home in Conway, S.C. Ed died later
that year.
Ed, from the 1958 Olio section on the
College Sixteen, which Ed directed and
for which he did much of the arranging.

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Dr. Edward D. Crockett Jr., a Washington internist and specialist in pulmonary ailments, died of cancer Dec. 12 at his home in Potomac.

Dr. Crockett was born in Chatanooga, Tenn. He grew up in Washington and graduated from Dunbar High School. He also graduated from Amherst College and he earned his medical degree at Howard University in 1962.

He served in the Navy Medical Corps at the Great Lakes Naval Center for two years and attained the rank of lieutenant commander.

In 1969, Dr. Crockett established his medical practice in Washington. He also taught at Howard medical school and was vice chairman of the department of medicine until 1975. He was a member of the staffs of Providence Hospital, the Washington Hospital Center and Howard University Hospital.

Dr. Crockett was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and the American College of Chest Physicians and he was a member of the Medico Chirurgical Society, the National Medical Association, the D.C. Medical Society and the Howard University Medical School Alumni Association. He also was a member of Plymouth Congregational Church.

His marriage to Pernell Crockett ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife, Dr. Mary Alice Johnson Crockett, and their two children, Edward D. III and Alison, all of Potomac; one daughter by his first marriage, Sharon Crockett of Silver Spring, and his mother, Gladys S. Crockett of Washington.

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Employment Information

    Former

    • Physician
      Self Employed
      Start:
      01/1969
      End:
      09/2001
    • Professor
      Howard University
      End:
      01/1975
    • US Navy
      End:
      12/1985

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    Reunion Class

    • 1958

    Graduation Year

    • 1958

    Major(s)

    • Music

    Secondary Schools

    • Dunbar High School

    Higher Ed

    • Howard University
      Field of Study:
      Medicine
      Degree:
      Unknown Degree
      Year:
      1962
    • Howard University
      Field of Study:
      Medicine
      Degree:
      Doctor of Medicine
      Year:
      1962

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    Volunteering

    • Alumni Admission
      Role:
      Advisor
      End:
      December 1985

    Fraternity

    • Phi Alpha Psi Fraternity

    Extracurricular Activities

    • Amherst College Band
    • College 16
    No data available

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