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Obituary: William F. McCrady: Retired lawyer who loved the outdoors
Friday, December 25, 1998 By Ervin Dyer, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
William F. McCrady grew up in the East End of Pittsburgh, near Frick Park.
There, among pristine woodlands, meadows and wildflowers, Mr. McCrady learned to love all things outdoors - especially birds and fly fishing.
Those attachments became a lifelong pursuit for Mr. McCrady and would take him around the world.
He traveled on wildlife tours to New Zealand, Kenya and Tanzania, Canada and Central America.
The same enthusiasm sent him across the United States
When he retired as a lawyer in 1982, Mr. McCrady hopped in a camper and journeyed cross-country to the West Coast, stopping in hamlets and forests along the way to watch birds.
Also an avid gardener and tennis player, Mr. McCrady, 85, died on Tuesday at his home in Fox Chapel after a long battle with prostate cancer. Graduated from Washington and Jefferson College in 1934, Mr. McCrady went on to Harvard Law School, finishing in 1937. A few years later, he helped to start the law firm McCrady, Kramer, Ravick & Bonistalli. It specialized in real estate and corporate law and Mr. McCrady worked there until his retirement.
Mr. McCrady also served on the boards of the Shadyside Boys Club and the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
When he retired, he didn't slow down. He devoted himself to a number of volunteer activities, including at least 40 hours per month with the Audubon Society's Beechwood Nature Center, constructing trails, landscaping and selling bird seed. He also cared for and fed Spaghetti, a five-foot-long black rat snake.
David Schaffner, 35, of Glenshaw, a groundskeeper at Beechwood, recalled Mr. McCrady's generosity of time and spirit.
"Nobody appreciated being outside more than he did. He never quit," Schaffner said. "If he got a pair of clippers, he'd clip brush for a couple of hours. He was good crew to be with."
On a couple of trips to Ontario to fish for smallmouth bass, Schaffner was a guest of Mr. McCrady's.
"It was my good fortune to travel with him, and his guests never had to pay. It was a trip I would have been unable to afford," Schaffner said.
Mr. McCrady was a Meals on Wheels volunteer and each Thursday, for 15 years, he'd drive through Troy Hill with his wife, delivering food.
"He loved giving back," said Elizabeth McCrady, his wife of 58 years.
Mr. McCrady is survived by his wife; three children, Charles Rockwell McCrady of Naples, Fla., William F. McCrady III of Damascus, Md., and Dr. Andrea M. McCrady of Spokane, Wash.; and a sister, Lavigne Gojjio, of Milwaukee.
Funeral arrangements are by Weddell-Ajak Funeral Home, Aspinwall. Service and interment will be private. Friends will be received from 2 to 5 p.m. tomorrow at Audubon Society at Beechwood Farms, 614 Dorseyville Road, Fox Chapel. Memorials be made to Beechwood Farms or the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.
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