Handsome, with an easy smile, and standing 6’5″, Bradley “Brad” Crollard has been known as the gentle giant since his time at Washington State University. He loved his family, life, and people—and he loved WSU.
For Brad and his family—husband to Christine and father to Alysse and Michaela—WSU was woven into their daily life. Saturday afternoons at Cougar football weekends, the WSU fight song sung in the kitchen during weekend breakfasts, and stories of his days on campus all kept that connection thriving.
When Brad died unexpectedly of a heart complication in July 2021, his loss left a big hole in the lives of many. The Crollards wanted to do something meaningful to commemorate and celebrate his life, so they decided to remember Brad through the establishment of the Bradley Allen Crollard Memorial Scholarship, an endowed scholarship for WSU students seeking the opportunity to study abroad.
Though Brad only spent two years at WSU, from 1976 to 1978, he was dedicated to the Cougar Crew team and his Sigma Nu fraternity. As his widow and high school sweetheart Christine Crollard recalled, “He really made his mark in crew, and he loved his teammates and his frat brothers.” Those two unforgettable years instilled in him a deep love for the university and made him a Coug for life.
At the end of his second year at WSU, he took a surveying job in Alaska, where he loved the fishing and the vast wilderness of the state. After a year, he returned to his family’s home in Wenatchee, Washington, and earned a degree in business administration at Central Washington University. He then went on to build a 32-year career at Hapag-Lloyd, a German international shipping and container transportation company, working his way up, bringing in many Fortune 100 clients to use Hapag-Lloyd’s services. By the time he retired in 2021, he was the general manager of the company’s operations at the Port of Seattle.
Making those he knew feel like family
Through his work, Brad traveled extensively to Europe and Latin America, learning about other cultures, their art, food, but most of all, he loved the people he met. That passion for connection inspired him to establish an international summer internship program at the Hapag-Lloyd Seattle office, bringing two to three students each year from Germany and other countries.
“Taking the interns under his wing and mentoring them was something he took great pleasure in,” his daughter Alysse said. “The interns kept him young.” Christine added, “They became part of our family each summer,” often coming over on Saturday for steak night at the Crollard house or taking them deep-sea fishing.
No doubt, as a result of Brad’s mentorship, the Seattle office had more interns choosing to work at Hapag-Lloyd than any of the other offices participating in the program.
According to Christine, ”Brad made everyone feel like family.” His daughters agreed: ”He had a way of making everyone feel appreciated, important, and that he stood by them,” said Alysse. And Michaela, who attended WSU because of her father’s love of the university, said, “When he came for Dad’s Weekend at WSU, he was genuinely interested in every person I introduced him to—he wanted to know about them, their life, and what mattered to them.”
Turning grief into opportunities for WSU students
Only months after retiring in 2021, Brad’s sudden death shocked everyone. In their grief, the Crollards wanted to honor him in a way that had lasting impact. Brad had often told his wife and daughters, “Getting to know people from other countries and experiencing their cultures is a way to better understand and have compassion for people—while grounding ourselves with some humility.” For them, the obvious way to honor him was to establish an endowed scholarship to support WSU students seeking an opportunity to study abroad but who lacked the financial means.
The Crollards started making calls and writing letters to let extended family, friends, and Brad’s former colleagues and classmates know about the Bradley Allen Crollard Memorial Scholarship and their desire to grow the scholarship through contributions. Their effort gained momentum after they took to social media—the word getting out through a matrix of Brad’s deep connections. They were overwhelmed by the amount of love and support they received from not only family, neighbors, and friends, but also the WSU and Hapag-Lloyd communities. Moved by the man and the cause, even the clients of companies Brad had worked with stepped forward to match donations.
Within months, the fund surpassed $25,000, activating the scholarship sooner than expected. In the years since, the fund has nearly doubled and has supported three students in studying abroad in England and Spain.
Opening eyes through travel
One of those students, Akari Cano, a junior majoring in criminal justice, found a meaningful opportunity to study abroad when she registered for a spring-semester criminal justice course exploring the differences between the U.S. and the United Kingdom’s systems. The course met throughout the semester in preparation for their spring-break trip to London, where they visited numerous criminal justice agencies, political institutions, and cultural centers and met with many of their professionals.
“And we visited courts—many different courts,” Akari said. “The UK has such a variety of courts because their system is divided into different levels to handle varying severity and complexity of crimes and cases.”
One aspect that Akari found insightful about the UK system was their approach to suspects. “In the UK, the police focus on information gathering and interviewing rather than on interrogation tactics often used by U.S. police to get a confession.”
Akari hopes to earn a master’s degree in criminal justice and then pursue a career investigating crimes in an urban police department with the hope of eventually working for the FBI.
“I would have never had this opportunity without the Crollard Memorial Scholarship,” said Akari, “which opened my eyes to how criminal justice is approached in other countries.”
How to contribute
This past July 7 marked the fifth anniversary of Brad’s death, and while a difficult day, the Crollard family continues to honor him by working to grow the scholarship fund so more students have the chance to participate in a WSU study abroad program to “better understand and have compassion” for people across the world.
For more information about how you can support the Bradley Allen Crollard Memorial Scholarship, please contact Tara K. Howe at tkhowe@wsu.edu or at 509-335-1240.