Obituary of Clayton Carl Crawford

Clayton “Clay” Carl Crawford Jr., 67, of Washington, New Jersey passed away at his home on May 24th , 2024. Clay was born on December 30 th , 1956 to the late Shirley and Clayton Crawford and grew up in
Washington. Clay graduated from Warren Hills Regional High School in 1975 and went on to earn his Bachelor’s Degree of Arts in Chemistry from Rutgers University. Over the years Clay worked for many companies as a laboratory technician, a business manager, analytical chemist, and research and development chemist and retired from Polytek Development Corp. in Easton, Pennsylvania after almost 15 years of service. Clay was a kind and caring man and always said what was on his mind.

While Clay was known to many for his work in chemistry in his various roles and multiple publications over the years, he was known to many others as a passionate aquarist. Clay had a love for fish; he raised and traded an exotic and diverse collection of fish over the years. Most recently his aquariums were filled with Killifish that he truly enjoyed. Clay was a member in many fish and aquarist groups and often traveled to meetings and seminars. Along the way, he would buy, sell, and trade fish and enjoyed traveling with like-minded friends around the United States. Clay also enjoyed photography and taking pictures of nature and wildlife. He often could be found playing chess both in-person and online with connections made across the globe and was an expert to say the least. Clay also had a love for the game of baseball and was a big New York Mets fan and almost never missed a game, even if that meant listening to a static radio broadcast while driving in his car.

Clay is survived by his sister Missy (Betty) Rush and her husband Troy, brother Nelson Crawford and his longtime partner Mary, and by his nephews Brandon, Nelson, Brian, Chris and one niece Joyous.

Clay is predeceased by his mother and father Clayton and Shirley Crawford, and by his grandparents Nelson and Bertha Beam.

A Gathering of Family and Friends will be held on Tuesday May 28 th , 2024 from 6pm until 8pm at Knoll- DeVoe Funeral Home and Cremation Service located at 142 West Washington Avenue, Washington, New Jersey, 07882 and again on Wednesday May 29 th , 2024 from 9am until 10am. Following the visitation on Wednesday May 29 th , 2024 at 10am a prayer service of remembrance will be held at the funeral home. Immediately following the prayer service Clay will be laid to rest at Lower Valley Cemetery in Califon, New Jersey.

A Celebration of Clay's life will be held for his family, friends and his many fish friends on June 8th at his home at 76 North Lincoln Ave. Washington NJ 07882. We will start gathering at 11am with food following at noon. Please bring a chair.