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Mike Crowley, who served as the mayor of Tacoma in 2001, died from heart failure on Monday, July 13. He was 80.
Crowley served as a City Council member starting in 1994 and was appointed mayor in 2001 when then-mayor Brian Ebersole stepped down to become the president at Bates Technical College, per city records. Crowley was best known for his sense of humor, thick skin and the work he did to help revitalize the city’s downtown, according to his family and friends.
Before joining the City Council, Crowley owned Dahnken’s, a jewelry store in downtown Tacoma. He wasn’t looking to become a politician, his kids Michael Crowley and Alisa Keolker told The News Tribune. He ran because he saw downtown Tacoma in its heyday in contrast with the decline that began after the Tacoma Mall opened in 1965 – and wanted to change things for the better.
“He didn’t seek out politics, it kinda came to him,” Crowley’s son said.
When Keolker and her brother walk around downtown today, they see their father. Crowley’s family and his council colleagues told The News Tribune that he championed new developments in downtown, helping to secure donations to fund the Museum of Glass, an expansion of the Tacoma Art Museum, the redevelopment of the Foss Waterway and more.
“I feel really proud of the accomplishments that have been made downtown,” Keolker told The News Tribune. “He worked effortlessly, tirelessly.”
“I believe a lot of what we see now out there is through his and others’ efforts,” Michael Crowley added.
Ray Corpuz, who served as city manager while Crowley was on the council, said he played a key role in making downtown Tacoma what it is today. He did so with the help of former council member Kevin Phelps and the late former council member Paul Miller, in partnership with Corpuz as city manager.
“It was a good partnership between the administration and the policymakers,” Corpuz told The News Tribune.
Crowley never lived outside of Tacoma, Keolkar and her brother said. He loved his family and modeled good parenting for his kids – neither of whom left the region either.
“I’ll be very honest, I wouldn’t leave my mom and dad,” Keolkar said. “That’s why I stayed in Tacoma, because I didn’t want to be away from them.”
Corpuz remembered Crowley for his support as mayor for a controversial effort to ban hot tubs in the face of a significant energy crisis in the city of Tacoma. The measure failed but not before it captured national attention, getting coverage in CNN and NPR, according to The News Tribune’s archives. To his council colleagues, Crowley’s support for the hot tub issue exemplified his good humor and commitment to his beliefs.
“He was like one of the few for votes to ban hot tubs, and he just got mercilessly crucified in the paper and the media,” former city council member Kevin Phelps told The News Tribune. “But he didn’t change his vote.”
His loved ones described him as a “people person” through and through. Phelps said he, Corpuz, Crowley and Miller since 1998 had an annual tradition of meeting up for a Christmas dinner together, sometimes catching flights to make it happen.
“Mike was kind of the glue that kind of held all that together,” Phelps told The News Tribune.
He said Crowley took his job seriously while maintaining a good sense of humor.
“He really cared about the city immensely, and we often didn’t agree on certain kinds of public policy, but he grew to be a really dear friend,” he said.
