He will be missed by all of us.
kelly
chicago Tribune
COMPUTER COLUMNIST, EDUCATOR DON CRABB
By Margaret O'Brien
Tribune Staff Writer
February 28, 2000
Writer and educator Don Crabb, who translated technical jargon about
computers and the Internet into helpful information for the average
user, died Saturday, Feb. 26, in the University of Chicago Hospitals
from a rare pancreatic disease. He was 44.
Mr. Crabb, of Darien, talked to Chicagoans about computers and the
Internet each Saturday night during his radio program on WGN and was
widely known for his Sun-Times column "Crabb on Computers," syndicated
in more than 250 newspapers.
He appeared weekly on TV's "Fox Thing in the Morning," wrote regular
columns in a dozen industry magazines and authored at least six books
about Macintosh computers and software. He was also an editor and
consultant for Hayden books, which published the Don Crabb Macintosh
Library of computer books. Mr. Crabb was involved in dozens of other
television and cable programs, newsletters, Web sites and
publications.
Mr. Crabb's primary job, however, was as the associate director of
graduate and undergraduate computer science at the University of
Chicago. He was also the director of instructional laboratories and a
senior lecturer at the university, where he began teaching in 1978 as
a graduate student in history.
"He was a computer information technologist who specialized in
edu-tainment," Mr. Crabb's fiance, Janet Viane, said. "He was a
performer who happened to be a technical genius on the side."
Viane and Mr. Crabb were to be married Dec. 4, but he collapsed a
half-hour before their wedding and had been hospitalized since.
"It is almost unbelievable what he has done in his career. But the
only thing he was looking forward to was being a future stepfather,"
she said.
"This was a man who knew his stuff," WGN radio host David Lawrence,
who was filling in for Mr. Crabb, said on Saturday's 10 p.m. program.
Lawrence announced Mr. Crabb's death on the air, and callers quickly
turned the program into a tribute, praising Mr. Crabb for his hands-on
knowledge of computers and for giving readers and listeners frank,
unbiased information.
Mr. Crabb first became interested in computers in high school, his
mother, Marilyn, said, but remained focused on his studies in history.
He had planned to study medieval history at the U. of C., but after a
year in the program, he began working on computers in the university's
business school and eventually moved to the computer science
department.
"It came about gradually, but he was there at the beginning. I think
that's why he knew so much," Marilyn Crabb said from her Ohio home
Sunday. She said she was aware of his prominence in computer circles.
"He would always send us his writings and tapes."
A "professional computer geek" is how Mr. Crabb described himself on
his personal Web site at www.doncrabb.com, joking that "I use so much
of the Internet, the government is creating Internet 3 just to service
me."
However, friends and family said he had broad interests, ranging from
Ohio State University football to opera to wine. He was also
passionate about movies, so much so that he was a student in Roger
Ebert's U. of C. extension film class every year since 1978.
Mr. Crabb also is survived by his father, Donald Eugene Crabb; a
sister, Diane McHenry; and grandfather Kenneth Crabb. He would have
also been the husband of Janet Viane and stepfather to Matthew,
Stephanie and Jason Viane.
Visitation will be from 2 to 9 p.m. Tuesday in Modell Funeral Home,
7710 S. Cass Ave., Darien. Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in
Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, 8404 S. Cass Ave., Darien.
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