Crombie James Dickinson Garrett '40
Deceased February 22, 2007
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
Born a Marylander and an avid sailor of small boats, Crombie graduated from Yale Law School and served for many years in government legal positions in Washington. He died in Freeport, ME, on February 22, 2007, after a long illness.
At Amherst, he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year, was a debater for four years and a member of Alpha Delta Phi.
After graduation, Crombie was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps, served in the Pacific theatre, and was discharged as a first lieutenant.
His experience in Washington was in a variety of positions: law clerk, deputy chief clerk of the United States Supreme Court, tax legislative counsel of the Treasury, and finally at the Department of Justice for twenty years, retiring as assistant chief of the Appellate Section.
Crombie was a lifelong sailor of small boats on the Chesapeake Bay and in the Severn River near Annapolis, MD. Twice he was commodore of the Severn Sailing Association. He also served for many years as a sailing judge and, for nearly fifty years, he was a member of the Annapolis Yacht Club.
With his wife, Sarah Wilson, of Gray, ME, who died in 1998, he had enjoyed a long family life. They had met and married while Crombie was at Yale. They were the parents of a son, Crombie ’68, who, with his wife Deborah and their children, James and Katharine, survive him.
—Louis P. Dolbeare ’40