Trammell Crow remembered by a former associate

I had the distinct pleasure of knowing Trammell Crow professionally and personally – as editor of Texas Business magazine and as a “household” employee. I found that his ethics and generosity were well-ingrained, unwavering characteristics in both environments.

In 1977, he conducted a business interview sitting atop a trash container by his desk in the middle of his headquarters’ large open office setting. He was, in effect, immediately accessible, and like the all important hub of a wheel, radiated his business acumen and strength to the supporting spokes.

As Vice President-Media Relations at RepublicBank Dallas, I encountered him in his role as a director of the bank. And through a serpentine set of career changes, found myself three years later managing his personal home (17,000 s.f.) at Mill Creek Farm at Little Hope, TX, just north of Tyler.

My wife Ronda and I lived on the top floor of the three-story home, witnessing the final construction and furnishing, and after completion, cooking, cleaning and managing visitors and a fleet of recreational vehicles. We were often treated like family. He would read poetry to guests at the dinner table.

Mr. Crow would work and read in the back seat while being driven from Dallas to the 10,000-acre East Texas ranch. He would don work clothes and join dozens of employees to pick up trash along the public roadway leading to his entry gate.

It was not uncommon for Trammell and Margaret to gather friends – we called them “the Freeways” (Carpenter, Stemmons) -- and sing church songs in the family room overlooking the 72-acre man-made lake. He arranged for an annual picnic for employees at Mill Creek, and for years, hosted a grand “camp-out” for business and political leaders, literati, artists and friends.

He loved nature, the outdoors and trees. He had about 2,000 dogwood trees planted among the pines in the two miles between the gate and the main house “just to add color to the forest.” He had a bald cypress plantation on the farm, which is why that species graces so many of his commercial properties. He raised oak seedlings from acorns raked and collected from Highland Park residents by his workers.

For his wife’s birthday, he had two 150-year-old magnolia trees relocated from Athens, TX, and planted at the driveway entry to the farm house. He also gave a large tract of land on a nearby creek to Big Thicket preservationists, and he employed a trained forester and built a home for the man’s family at Mill Creek.

His quick smile, firm handshake, resolute leadership and principled business dealings will be missed in Dallas, in Texas and in a nation that has lost faith in much of this country’s large corporation executives.