Tim Crow, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot during World War II, survived a horrendous, bone-breaking plane crash and went on to enjoy careers as a tennis sportscaster, disc jockey and Atlanta business executive.
Arriving in Britain in February 1944, Mr. Crow took off the following month on his very first combat mission to intercept German planes near London.
Dennis Crow of Long Beach, Calif., said his older brother was taking evasive action to elude a Messerschmidt fighter when his Spitfire plunged into a farm field. He was trapped in his cockpit with fractures of the neck and back, but fortunately a trained police dog led rescuers through the darkness to him, and he was taken promptly to a hospital.
Mr. Crow spent the remainder of the war in a body cast at a rehabilitation facility housed in a stately English home, said his daughter, Maureen Crow of Pasadena, Calif.
“I recall seeing a picture of Dad sitting in the midst of beautiful nurses while they played croquet,” she said.
One other signal event in his life took place in Britain. An RCAF comrade was killed in combat, and he took his friend’s name, Tim, as his own. “He never cared much for Howard, his given name,” said his brother Dennis.
H. Tim Crow, 89, of Atlanta died Feb. 27 at his Brighton Gardens residence of complications from Parkinson’s disease. A Mass of Resurrection is planned at 10 a.m. Thursday at Mary Our Queen Catholic Church. Burial will be at Floral Hills Memorial Garden. Airport Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.
Recovering from his war injuries, Mr. Crow was at a microphone in 1947 doing play-by-play calls of Davis Cup and Wimbledon matches for the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., plus freelancing for the BBC covering major sports stories in Canada.
He chose to go to New York to polish his broadcasting skills. While at Columbia University, he met his first wife, Ronnie Haas.
When he was offered a job as a disc jockey, the two of them relocated to Wilmington, Del. There, he hosted the "Tiptoe Tim Crow Show" on station WAMS with a rock ‘n' roll format. (Tiptoe Tim was a nickname he earned for habitually walking on the balls of his feet, his daughter said.)
WAMS was a property of Rollins Inc., and in 1968 the company found a place for Mr. Crow at its Atlanta headquarters.
R. Randall Rollins, chairman of the Rollins board, said Mr. Crow was a long-term, dedicated employee.
“He was in charge of our quality control department and advanced through the years to the position of vice president and secretary of the company. He was a perfectionist and expected the best out of all of us.”
At one point Mr. Crow headed the company’s media relations. Carol Molnar, Rollins’ corporate communications manager, said Mr. Crow also made frequent public relations presentations on behalf of Rollins’ best-known division, Orkin Pest Control.
Maureen Crow said her father often traveled to New York City to brief securities analysts and investors about Rollins’ business activities, such as when Rollins stock went on the New York Stock Exchange.
After his wife Ronnie’s death in 1993, Mr. Crow married once again, to Irene Aden, who survives him. Also surviving are a sister, Hazel Hughes of St. Catherines, Ontario; and a granddaughter.
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