This memorial website was created in memory of our loved one, Maurice Crane, father, husband, grandfather, great grandfather, teacher, leader, intellectual giant. and funny, funny man. We will remember him forever.
Tributes
Leave a tributeYour memory is a blessing.
Pat Taksen
Forever missed.Forever loved.
He was the smartest guy in any room & loved the way he used yiddish in his commentary.
Forever missed & forever loved
It has been a lucky moment in life to have been in contact with Maurice.
RIP
Bernhard Wichert,Germany
https://soundcloud.com/search?q=vincent%20voice%20library!
RIP
Bernhard Wichert/Germany
I loved the way he sprinkled his comments with Yiddish. I still remember the beautiful wedding of Elayne & Mush & how happy I was to have him in my life.
Bernhard Wichert, Roetgen/ Germany
www.suizidal.de
1950's+ He spoke in tribute to them at their memorial services for which I was very grateful. I've been able to keep in touch with him and Elayne on occasional visits to EL and always enjoy reliving (and replaying) music from the Geriatrics era. I will be playing one of my albums tonight and reminiscing in my mind about life on Gunson Street. My condolences to Elayne and his children and extended family. The East Lansing/MSU community has lost a true treasure!
in Marquette, Jane McCann Ryan
I smiled and always reached out to find him. I called the very old number that I had but, there was never an answer... But I kept trying....always feeling that grand and glorious spirit..."how can I make your life more wonderful"....I joyfully learned that life lesson almost 50 years ago and it works in my life today. And then he shared lessons about comedy, and love and loyalty, jazz, humanities and about being human.....back in 1966 when the kids were little and Elyane "kvelled" at what a stunning and wonderful man she shared her life with. Your marriage was an inspiration to an impressionable college girl who just adored this wonderful teacher and sterling human being.
Today I found out why I could never say hello or goodbye....I am still crying like all of us whose heart and intellect he touched and inspired us to be all we could be.
My sincere condolences to Elayne and the many generations of Cranes and the extended family you send Maury created. Were my college friend and sister in law, Elaine Ryan Passman alive she would send her
Condolences and love as well. We were all so fortunate to have known and loved him; thank you for sharing him so generously and graciously.
He will never be far away from us ...........
our very dear M.A. Crane Professor.
With love, Ellen "Sam " Passman Justin Morrill College Class of 69
I first knew Maury in '67 as my favorite MSU prof., and, like so many others, I loved his humor,wisdom, and humanity. Like so many other students, I felt he saw us a colleagues and fellow travelers. As a jazz drummer, I also knew him as a friend and musician. Working in MSU's film unit in the mid-70', we re-connected and occasionally jammed together with other musicians . As a documentary filmmaker in the 80's & 90's, he often provided me with some great historical audio from his
second incarnation as director of the Vincent Voice Library. It was a pleasure to introduce my wife and daughter to him in '96, the last time I saw him in.
I recently cleaned out some book shelves and came upon this paperback from my favorite college professor, Maurice Crane. That prompted me to look him up on line and discover to my sadness, that he
had recently passed away. I am certain that he would not remember me, but all these years later, he is the only professor that I remember by name from my years at MSU.
The dreaded four, three-term classes required in those years for freshman and sophomores all were survey courses covering many topics. The one exception for that dread was the Humanities classes
taught by Dr. Crane. Once I found him, I took these only from him. My love of the Humanities, Art, Art History and the Classics all were born in those classes with him. He not only knew his topic but loved it
and brought it to life.
I did not have the heart to put this in the Goodwill box. This book may be something that already exists in his papers. But, in the off chance that this is something that might be of value to the University in his
memory, I am sending it to you for safe keeping. He was quite a guy, gentleman and scholar, and it was my pleasure to have spent time in his classes.
Condolences to his family and a salute for a life well lived and remembered by a grateful student.
Sincerely
Jill Johnson Norman
Mush was a remarkable, one of a kind, man. I will miss him, but will not forget him and wish to express my sincere condolences to his beloved Elayne and their family.
Many years later, I started MSU and was wondering which prof to choose for Humanities classes. Mom said that Dr Crane was very interesting and funny, so I signed up. After class the first day, I went up and introduced myself. This began a friendship that I treasure. When I would be in the vicinity of the MSU library, I would stop in to say "hi", or maybe see him in Geriatrics Six Plus One.
Not only was he an excellent, funny, interesting professor, but a great person too. Miss him! Diane Gartung
Maury made all of us so happy, all the time. He was one of the earliest, warmest, and most collegial of welcomers to new faculty members at MSU when I returned to East Lansing in 1978, a splendid story-teller, passionate public intellectual, and fantastic "amateur" (in the full sense of "lover") musician. And his laughter and his zest for living to the full enriched the lives of everyone who knew him. We miss him with you.
and darkness has descended.
everybody's gone to sleep.
no need to tread softly,you won't wake him.
but be very quiet,you might hear him.
Wish we could go around again one more time.
In my youth, I remember Dr. Crane was such a kind and caring man / father. I also remember he tell us (me and my friends), never forget to get an education...without it...where will you go?
Please know that he will always be a part of all of you...in your hearts and know my thoughts and prayers are with you and yours and although your Father is at peace...God is watching over him from a distance.
Leave a Tribute
Your memory is a blessing.
Pat Taksen
Remembering Maury
It’s been a true pleasure to read all these great memories from his family and friends.
As an undergrad in his Humanities class in 1967, it quickly became obvious to me that Maury was a great teacher and scholar who loved to make us all laugh as he immersed us in his worlds of history, literature and music. He knew I was a jazz drummer, and when I returned to MSU for a short stint with the Media Center’s film unit in 1975, he joined me and several others musicians for a free-form jam session - quite a stretch from Dixieland. It was cool…I still have the recording on cassette.
In the 80’s & 90’s, working as a documentary filmmaker with PBS stations, I called him several times at his Vincent Voice Library for some historical music and speeches. He always picked up his phone there saying, “Hello, this is the Voice Library…How can I make you happy?” And he always did.
In 1998 I sent him a VHS tape of an Emmy-nominated documentary I made on the Holocaust, and a few months later dropped by his office at the Library with my wife and daughter as we were heading to northern Michigan, seeing him for the last time. It was twenty-three years since I’d seen him. He was unchanged, and joked about being pleasantly surprised that I’d made such a fine film. I was glad my family had a chance to meet him.
How many hundreds, (or thousands) of us have only to think of him and smile? Remaining so alive in so many hearts is an achievement few can hope to have…an incredible man.
us in the park
The divinity
There are a few iconic tales, the sort of thing families pass down, and I’ll admit the one I’m about to tell is how I remember it; I, of, course, was not there.
My father was interviewing for an associate professorship with Holy Cross, a gig he wanted but not a school he wanted. He began the interview with “You know, I’m not so sure about that whole divinity of Christ thing.” Later in the interview, the part I remember best and the part I tell the most often;
“Mr. Crane, do you smoke or drink?”
“Not well enough to teach undergrads.”
Another family folklore thing I was around for but I still don’t remember. He said he had a gig the night I was born. His intro was something along the lines of “I have three kids now, my eldest daughter, Abby, she’s a cellist, Jon, a flautist (it doesn’t make sense, but bear with me) and my brand new son, Harry, he’s the pianist.”
I do have memories that aren’t funny, but I thought I’d fill the space where the missing F#*%ing Dis Custard joke went. A joke that made it all the more surprising when I stopped by his office once to find him bantering with Berry Gordy. He said he knew the guy but I thought he was making that up. Wish I could remember a profound quote from that conversation but it was mostly like two kids taunting one another on a street corner.