Patrick Crowley

Patrick Crowley died March 5. He was 87.

Crowley was born to Michael J. Crowley and Nelle Slemmons on April 6, 1935, in Ketchikan, Alaska. He graduated from Ketchikan High School as the salutatorian. After graduating he attended San Diego State studying math and physics and later earned a master’s degree from UC Berkeley. His career at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory began in 1958 as a computational physicist in the theoretical physics department and was a pioneer in computational fluid dynamics.

He and Betty married in January 1989 in Livermore. They lived in the Livermore hills, and after retiring they planted an olive orchard. His life-long passion was playing piano. He and friend Joan Boar directed inmates in a musical in Santa Rita’s Women’s Prison in the 1990s, and he accompanied many local melodrama productions.

He leaves behind his wife Betty Crowley of 34 years, his stepdaughter Beverly Norleen (Craig Norleen) and step grandson Will Jaeger of Santa Cruz, his stepdaughter Lauren Jaeger, and step grandson Joel Jaeger (Asia Jaeger) of Laverne. He was preceded in death by his parents.