Robert A. Crawford, 89, who as a young teen left his family’s farm to seek his fortune in Chicago and went on to start Great Lakes Screw Corp. and other businesses during his long career, died of a heart attack in a Florida hospital Wednesday, Jan. 31. Mr. Crawford’s informal business education probably started when he was a young boy, said his brother-in-law, John J. Fanning. As a youngster growing up in Fair Oaks, Ind., he worked the fields alongside his three brothers and sharecropper parents. His shrewd mathematical ability quickly established him as the financial manager for the family. . It might have been the $5 tip that a Chicago man once gave Mr. Crawford for a watermelon on the side of the road that put big city dreams in his head, his brother-in-law said. After high school, Mr. Crawford hitched rides to Chicago, where he took factory jobs and saved his money. During World War II, he helped transform factories on the East Coast into munitions plants. In 1947, he bought an old onion warehouse on Halsted Street in Riverdale and started the Great Lakes Screw Corp. The company would grow from large accounts with automobile, television and radio manufacturing companies, Fanning said. “He was extremely self-confident,” and the positive feelings rubbed off on those he did business with, he said. Mr. Crawford’s wife, Madelyn, said her husband had a contagious personality. “He was a people person and he was extremely generous,” she said. Mr. Crawford also had an interest in showing quarter horses, said his wife. He boasted that his horse, Cuhangha Kid, won grand champion 76 times out of 78 shows, she said. Over the years he would start or open new businesses, including Riverdale Heat Treating and Plating Co., Midwest Sintering in Riverdale, Mikelberry’s Restaurant in Park Forest, Cabinets and Countertops in Phoenix, Ariz., Nimbus Water Purification Systems in Phoenix, Embassy Villas in Ft. Lauderdale; a hunting and fishing lodge, Island Lake Club in Wausaukee, Wis.; and the Crawford Land and Cattle Co. in Yavapai County, Ariz. He married his wife, Madelyn, in 1965 and settled in Scottsdale, Ariz., to raise his family. He retired in 1972. He moved to Orland Park four years ago to be close to his family, she said. In addition to his wife, he is also survived by three daughters, Carol Bunting, Nancy Larson and Megan Barcelona; his brother, Lynn; five grandchildren; and 12 great-grandchildren. Visitation will be held from 2 to 9 p.m. Sunday and a funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Monday at Thornridge Funeral Home, 14318 S. La Grange Rd., Orland Park.
