Jared Crane, a senior studying architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, died May 20, 2018, following a two-year battle with cancer. He was 22.
Raised outside Chicago, in Glen Ellyn, Ill., Crane was a starting pitcher for Glenbard West High School and later joined Contra, Washington University’s ultimate Frisbee team. A strong environmental advocate, he regularly volunteered with the Food Roof Farm at Urban Harvest STL and studied water management strategies as part of the Sam Fox School studio “After the Flood: Regenerative Urbanism in North St Louis.”
“Jared had a genuine passion and creative curiosity,” said Carmon Colangelo, the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts and the E. Desmond Lee Professor for Collaboration in the Arts. “His courageous spirit was truly inspiring.”
As a sophomore, Crane developed and facilitated STEAM-related projects for students at Brittany Woods Middle School in University City, Mo. He later participated in the Sam Fox School’s semester abroad program in Florence, Italy; contributed to the monograph “Maya Lin in Conversation”; and served as a fabrication assistant for Spectroplexus, a public art project that remains on view in St. Louis Lambert International Airport.
“As a student of architecture and as a person, Jared Crane possessed a wonderful combination of compassion and determination,” said Igor Marjanović, professor and chair of undergraduate architecture in the Sam Fox School. “He loved reading and drawing and was passionate about people, buildings and environments, always asking larger questions about the role of architecture in the world around us.”
Crane is survived by his parents, Mark and Betty Crane; his sister, Jessica Crane; and his grandparents, Philip and Mary Crane. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation or Urban Harvest STL.
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