Obituary

Richard Thomas “Dickie” Crowder
08/03/1939 – 05/30/2024

Richard Thomas “Dickie” Crowder, age 84 of Baskerville, VA, died Thursday, May 30, 2024 in the Hundley Center, South Hill, Va. Mr. Crowder was an American government official and academic who served as Chief Agricultural Negotiator in the Office of the United States Trade Representative and Under Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs. Crowder was born and raised in Southern Virginia. His father was a tenant farmer. He earned a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science from Virginia Tech and was commissioned through ROTC at Virginia Tech and served two years in the U.S. Army. After active duty he earned his Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from Oklahoma State University–Stillwater.

He was a member of the boards of directors of Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. and Neogen. He was also a trustee of the Farm Foundation. Prior to entering public service, Crowder first worked for Exxon as a staff economist, then for Wilson, the Pillsbury Company, and Eckrich. Crowder served as the Under Secretary of Agriculture for International Affairs and Commodity Programs from 1989 to 1992 before becoming the Senior Vice President of DeKalb Genetics Corporation, then head of the American Seed Trade Association. He served as Chief Agricultural Negotiator as a U.S. Trade Representative with the rank of Ambassador from January 2006 to May 2007 in the Bush administration. In 2008 Crowder joined the agricultural economics faculty of Virginia Tech. In 2013, he was the recipient of the American Farm Bureau's Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award. Then he was appointed C.G. Thornhill Professor of Agricultural Trade at Virginia Tech. He was reappointed to the position in 2018. He is survived by his wife Margaret Taylor Rainey Crowder of Baskerville and Minneapolis MN., two sons, Richard Morgan Crowder of Denver, CO and Matthew Blackwell Crowder of Atlanta, GA. and his sister Linda C. McClellan (Archie) of Baskerville, VA.