With 31 years in Fairfax County — 28 of them in McLean — Frank Crandall has had plenty of time to immerse himself in the community. For the county, he serves on the Environmental Quality Advisory Council, the Deer Management Committee and the Middle Potomac Watershed Steering Committee; for McLean, he has been a board member of the Citizens Association and chair of the Environment, Parks and Recreation Committee since 1994.
His extensive educational background includes undergraduate and graduate work in engineering and marine biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and work in the Ph. D. programs of Liverpool John Moores University in England and the University of Goteborg in Sweden.
Crandall has been an investigator on three National Science Foundation grants, all of which center around his study of the animals in the phylum Nemertea, which are invertebrate ribbon worms. Still on an intellectual quest, he has been director of the Turkey Run Research Institute since 1988 and a visiting scientist/research associate at the Smithsonian’s U.S. Museum of Natural History since 1990.
Neighborhood: Turkey Run (Old Langley)
Years in the community: 31 in Fairfax County; 28 in Mclean
Family: 2 grown children; son in California, daughter in Fairfax County; 2 grandchildren.
Occupation: Theoretically retired; have never been busier. Spend most of my days on research at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, many nights and weekends on civic activities.
Interests/hobbies: Oriental rugs and other textiles (board member of International Hajji Baba Society); Imari and Arita Japanese porcelains.
Why did you come to the community? Because of my consulting activities.
Do you have any concerns about the community, and any ideas to help? We are rapidly destroying the natural beauties and environment that made most of us want to live here. I have spent the last quarter century working toward better planning and management for our local communities.
What is the one “hidden treasure” you’ve found in your community? I grew up in the middle of the Los Angeles basin where a tree was anything bigger than a tumble weed and there was little natural surface water. Our streams and woodlands are priceless heritage that we desperately need to conserve and preserve.
Favorite local restaurant: Tachibana
Favorite television show: Boston Legal
Last movies seen that were really enjoyed: The Lion in Winter, Dr. Strangelove, Hospital
What kind of music do you listen to: Classical, Early, Liturgical
Where would you go on an all expenses paid vacation? The eastern side of Europe, particularly following the unfolding of spring starting in the Greek Islands and progressing slowly north to the Baltics and upper Scandinavia.
If you could meet anyone in history, who would it be? Not to just meet but to know intimately as a person: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Oppenheimer
When you were little, what did you want to grow up to be? Since the age of 4 a scientist/engineer
What is your favorite part of your job? Acquiring insights leading to a broader and deeper understanding.
Where do you see yourself in five years? Doing much the same things as I’m doing now.