Crowley penned a plan for HistoryLink's future

The day before Walt Crowley was hospitalized for surgery, he typed a two-page "Just in Case" letter to his wife, emphasizing his desire to keep HistoryLink.org going and listing potential candidates to replace him.

Crowley, 60, who had been fighting laryngeal cancer for two years, underwent surgery Wednesday, suffered a stroke the following day and died Friday night.

His wife, Marie McCaffrey, said the letter is assurance that the popular online encyclopedia of Washington history will continue to run smoothly because it outlines in detail how the Web site is to be run.

The letter includes three potential successors and also a request that journalists be hired to write essays for the site, his wife said. She declined to release details until the HistoryLink board of trustees, which will meet within two weeks, has had a chance to see the letter.

Crowley, of Seattle, co-founded the nonprofit Web site with his wife in 1997, and it has become a go-to resource for students, historians and journalists. It receives 4 million hits a month.

Among the many roles he played during his life, Crowley was a former city planner, TV commentator and a speechwriter for a governor. But he was probably best known as a public historian through the Web site and in connection with books he and his wife collaborated on, including the histories of the Rainier Club and Seattle University.

"We will have to find several people to replace him," McCaffrey said. "He's kind of hard to replace. He was the development director, the [executive] director, the main editor and writer."

Tan Vinh: 206-515-5656 or tvinh@seattletimes.com

Information from The Seattle Times archives has been included in this report.