Margaret Doggett Crow

Margaret Doggett Crow passed away in Dallas, Texas on April 11, 2014. Margaret was born in Dallas, Texas on May 17, 1919, the only child of Dallas merchant E. B. Doggett and his wife Lillian. She was a proud graduate of the Hockaday School for Girls 1937 class. Margaret tragically lost her parents at the early age of 19 when they were killed in an automobile accident in March 1939 while returning to Dallas after having visited her in Austin, Texas where she was a student at the University of Texas. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority. After a Hockaday-sponsored tour of Europe, she and her classmates were part of an event which made history at the beginning of World War II. On September 3rd, 1939, the SS Athena was torpedoed and sunk by the Germans off the British coast and Margaret and her friends had to be rescued from lifeboats hours later as they drifted in the Atlantic.

Margaret and her husband, Trammell, a young naval officer, were married on August 15, 1942. Shortly thereafter, Trammell began a career in commercial real estate that would eventually lead to the creation of the Trammell Crow Company, which became the largest diversified commercial real estate company in the United States and the world. Margaret and Trammell had a wonderful family of six children. As Trammell grew the business, Margaret excelled in her many roles as hostess extraordinaire, friend, civic leader, mother and wife. Together they attended State dinners at the White House as the guests of presidents John F. Kennedy through George Bush. Margaret and Trammell welcomed world leaders and foreign dignitaries into their home.

Impressively, Margaret had only one phone number for the entire 94 years of life and lived in only two homes three blocks apart in Highland Park.

She and Trammell traveled the world. No destination was too far or exotic. Be it to China in the 1970s, sailing to remote Greek isles, hiking in Canada or traversing the plains of East Africa, they were always up for adventure and exploration. The world was their oyster.

After three decades as a devoted wife and mother, Margaret started her own business in 1978. Opening all the stores at the Anatole Hotel, MDC Gift Shops was created to share her travels with the world and enrich the experience of the guests at the hotel. Margaret's fine taste and good eye proved successful in her beautiful stores.

Like so many ladies of her time, Margaret was also active in charitable, civic and educational causes in Dallas. At various times in her life, Margaret served on the University of Texas System Chancellor’s Council Executive Committee, University of Texas at Austin Advisory Councils for the College of Fine Arts and the College of Arts and Sciences, the Hockaday School Board of Trustees (Life Member), and the Texas Commission on the Arts and Humanities. Margaret was also a member of the Highland Park United Methodist Church, the Junior League of Dallas, the Dallas Woman’s Club, the Dallas Garden Club, the Founders Garden Club of Dallas, the Daughters of the American Colonists and the Daughters of the American Revolution.

During their travels Margaret and Trammell developed a passion for collecting Asian art. In 1998 Margaret realized that their collection had become significant. Wanting to share it with the public, she opened the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art. This active museum is located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas near the Dallas Museum of Art.

Margaret was preceded in death by her husband of 66 years, Trammell and her oldest son, Robert. She is survived by five children: Howard, Harlan and his wife Katherine, Trammell S., Lucy Billingsley and her husband Henry, and Stuart and his wife Shirley; daughter-in-law Nancy Crow; 17 grandchildren: Carter Trammell Crow and his wife Julie, Robert Wade Crow and his wife Sara, Trammell Crow Hancock and his wife Cheryl, Lucy Paige Billingsley Burns and her husband Thomas, Robert Nathaniel Crow, George Harlan Billingsley and his wife Lindsay, Margaret Doggett Crow, Kathleen Crow Craig and her husband Nathaniel, Anne Sumner Billingsley, Daniel Howard Crow, Elizabeth Gary, Virginia Marie Crow, George Trammell Crow, Isabella Margie Crow, Harlan Robert Crow, Margaret Dena Crow and Sarah Katherine Crow, and eight great-grandchildren: Carter Harrison Crow, Trammell Colin Crow, Duncan Wade Crow, Charlotte Pettus Hancock, Quinlan Harley Crow, Caroline Paige Burns, Morgan Thomas Burns and Davis Allen Billingsley; and daughters in-law Nancy Crow and Barbara Hunt Crow. A public memorial service will be held at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas at 3:00 p.m. Wednesday, April 16th, 2014. The Crow family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Margaret and Trammell Crow Chair for Alzheimer’s and Geriatric Research at Southwestern Medical Foundation in Dallas, The Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art or The Hockaday School.