Longtime Aquidneck Island resident, William (Bill) Anthony Crimmins, died on January 22nd, 2025 at the age of 95 at his home in Newport, Rhode Island.
A beloved teacher, Bill taught ancient and medieval history and coached multiple sports at Portsmouth Abbey School from the late 1950s through the early 1970s. He never accepted a salary during his entire career and his generosity is legendary at the school and monastery. Perhaps one of the most notable results of this patronage is the double-faced Meinrad Burch crucifix he commissioned to accompany Trinity, a wire sculpture by Richard Lippold, that hangs high above the church’s altar. In addition to conferring funds for buildings and programs, he provided transformative scholarships for talented students in need.
Beyond his work and philanthropy on behalf of the school, Bill had an extraordinary history of contributing to the cultural life of Newport, co-founding several institutions that have become part of the fabric of our community: the Newport Music Festival, the Norman Bird Sanctuary, the Pennfield School, and the Newport Cultural Commission, as well as supporting prominent local institutions such as the Newport Art Museum and the Redwood Library and Athenaeum. He sponsored the groundbreaking Monumenta contemporary sculpture exhibition, for which he was recognized last summer at a symposium presented by the Preservation Society of Newport County. He produced a movie titled Pilgrimage, filmed in Newport, New York City, and Rome, which was included in La Semaine de la Critique at the Cannes Film Festival and is now in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art.
Off island, his generosity extended to the Rhode Island School of Design where he served on the board of directors. He was also a deeply committed supporter of the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union, and cofounder of the Monastery of Christ in the Desert in Abiquiu, NM.
Bill was born in London, England, as a descendant of Sir Arthur and Lady Chance of Dublin, Ireland. Bill’s mother Ethel Chance, studied medicine at Oxford and married Thomas Crimmins, an American graduate of Harvard and Brasenose College, Oxford, who became the European representative for the First National Bank of Boston in London, Paris, and Rome.
Bill spent the first two years of his life at Boughbeech House in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, and the following six at Belgrove in Cobh, Ireland – where his father died in a tragic boating accident. At eight years old, he moved to the United States and lived between his mother’s home in Monkton, MD, and his grandparent’s home on Chestnut Street in Camden, ME. In 1942, Bill enrolled at the Portsmouth Priory School. While a student there, he lost his two older brothers – Thomas, a marine, at Okinawa and Hugh, an airman, on D-day.
He studied briefly at Northeastern University before graduating from the University of Notre Dame in 1955 and pursuing postgraduate studies at St. Louis University. When he returned to the Abbey as a teacher in 1957, Bill established a residence on Aquidneck Island and a summer home at Lake Megunticook in Camden for his growing family. He became a member of the Newport Country Club, Megunticook Golf Club, and the Camden Yacht Club, and a patron of the Camden Snow Bowl and the Camden Public Library.
Bill married Gael, the love of his life and best friend, in 1974. For the next 50 years, they raised their merged family together, traveling extensively throughout the United States and Europe and, for close to 30 years, spending their winters on Captiva Island, FL.
Bill is survived by his widow, Gael Andrews Crimmins; eight children: Catherine Crimmins of Providence, RI; Thomas Crimmins and his wife Trina of Kodiak, AK; John Crimmins and his wife Denise of Middletown, RI; Hugh Crimmins of San Diego, CA; Paul Crimmins of Honolulu, HI; Eve Crimmins of Camden, ME; step-daughter Alyson Baker and her husband Zachary Hadlock of Katonah, NY; and step-son Christopher Baker and his wife Defne Tutus of Brooklyn, NY; six grandchildren: Adam Crimmins, Tommi Taylor and her husband Caleb, Samantha Crimmins, Laura Wu, Dorian Wu, and Luke Crimmins; and two great-grandsons: Finnegan and Fletcher Taylor. He was predeceased in 2019 by his sister Gillian Fenwick of Monkton, MD.
In honor of his memory, a mass will be celebrated at the Portsmouth Abbey Church on Saturday, May 31, 2025 at 11:00 am.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the William A. Crimmins Scholarship in Arts, Athletics, and Civilization at the Portsmouth Abbey School by contacting Matthew Walter, Headmaster, at mwalter@portsmouthabbey.org.
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