Andy Crow

Andy Crow, the well-known organist and organ builder and restorer, died on July 12, 2016 at the Panorama Convalescent and Rehabilitation Center in Lacey, Washington. He was 83. The cause was Parkinson’s Disease. Andrew Neil Crow was born on June 8, 1933, in Santa Barbara, California, the son of Andrew and Grace Platt Crow. He is survived by his brother, Todd Crow of Poughkeepsie, New York; a niece, Evelyn Crow Abrams of Larchmont, New York; and a nephew, Daniel Crow of New York City. Having begun to play the piano on his own, he started formal lessons at age eight, and organ study at age 12. He graduated from the University of Redlands (California), and later earned a Master of Music Education at the University of Southern California. After spending two years in the Army Medical Corps at Fort Lewis, during which time he played at the chapels on post as well as at theaters in Tacoma and Seattle, he taught school in Tacoma between 1958 and 1962. As a pianist and organist, he performed for more than 60 years, principally in the Northwest, but also for 12 years in the 1960s and 1970s, touring the United States, promoting the Rodgers Theatre Organ as a member of the Worth-Crow duo. With Ted Alan Worth, they played 366 concerts in virtually every state. Beginning in 1975 and for more than 20 years, he played organ at the Tacoma and Bellevue Pizza & Pipes restaurants, and for more than 30 years was organist at Olympia’s First United Methodist Church. He was a fixture in downtown Olympia as the owner of two theaters and for many years lived in the Capitol Theater Building. He was also famous for his improvised accompaniments to silent movies, often held at the Washington Center for the Performing Arts where in 1995 he was in charge of installing the large Wurlitzer pipe organ, now renamed in his honor as the Mighty Andy Crow Wurlitzer Organ. A tribute from the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society, including numerous photographs, can be found at the society’s website, www.pstos.org. Please leave memories of Andy or condolences for his family in the Guestbook below.