Crowley had long favored consolidation of school districts and a single, statewide teachers’ contract. In his final days at the State House, Crowley helped ongoing efforts to establish a statewide school-funding formula and to rein in growing teacher salaries.

Crowley didn’t just focus on school issues, however. He opposed early proposals for a casino in Newport, and recently resisted the proposed Harrah’s Narragansett Indian casino in West Warwick. He supported tax incentives for energy savings and regionalization of municipal services decades before those concepts were realized. He recently proposed measures that would protect coastal residents from rising homeowners’ insurance rates.

Despite the serious issues he grappled with at the State House, Crowley maintained a certain levity.

In 1999, mall developer Aram Garabedian became the lone independent in the overwhelmingly Democratic General Assembly. Crowley posted a sign on the phone booth outside the House chamber. It read: “Representative Aram Garabedian. Mini Minority Leader. Please knock.”

Crowley twice ran unsuccessfully for the Newport City Council before being elected to his first public office, state representative, in 1981 at age 31.

That election pitted Crowley, who had deep Newport roots and a family name synonymous with popular Newport restaurants La Forge Casino and the now-closed Christie’s, against Eileen Slocum, the wealthy Republican leader and Bellevue Avenue denizen. In a rematch the following year, Crowley beat her again.

He never lost another election.

Crowley once questioned his political future. He lost his second bid, in 1979, for the Newport council in part because of criticism over his participation as a URI student in an anti-Vietnam War demonstration.

“I’m proud of what I did,” he said at the time, but added, “There’s a real question now of how credible a candidate I can be now.”

Newport voters didn’t share his concern. Crowley maintained a stanchion of local support for decades, particularly in the predominately Irish Fifth Ward neighborhood, where he lived with his family on Harrison Avenue.

As a former chairman of the Newport County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Crowley actively marketed his hometown as a tourist destination. And, of course, there were the nights he spent greeting diners at La Forge Casino.

“Politics is a little more laid back [here] than upstate,” Crowley said in 1993. “It’s not so much going to ‘times,’ it’s more of a ‘Hi, neighbor’ chat-across-the-fence kind of thing."

About 18 months ago, in February 2006, Crowley was diagnosed with stage-three malignant melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer. He returned to the State House in May of 2006 when he was greeted with applause and a standing ovation. By the end of the 2006 legislative session, Crowley had secured the funds for a new alternate high school in Newport.

Crowley went on to win another election last fall, and at that time, he said tests showed his cancer had not spread to other organs and his prognosis looked good. He remained active through the end of the 2007 legislative session in June, but the cancer returned.

Crowley leaves his wife, Diana, and three children