Given his many achievements, John Crittenden’s life story could serve as a blueprint for many a Hollywood movie. Fortunately for the many people he encountered, Crittenden’s story was very real.
A man known to friends and colleagues simply as “Crit,” he ran a successful real estate brokerage, served as president of the Alameda Chamber of Commerce and went on to become a world traveler upon retirement. For many around town, though, the Oakland native, Berkeley High School graduate and longtime Alameda resident became perhaps best known as a founder of the Alameda Journal.
Crittenden, who also proudly served his country in the Korean War and went on to earn an MBA from Cal, died peacefully in Mission Viejo on Feb. 21, two days after his 89th birthday.
“He had a major brain aneurysm 32 years ago, which he never should have survived, but he continued to travel extensively with my mom and with me” said Dave Snyder, Crittenden’s stepson. “Three years ago, he went into hospice care — he was in hospice care for three years, two months. The man had a will to live.”
In the manner of any wise entrepreneur — especially one with a vision for community news — Crittenden saw a need and filled it, thus launching of Alameda Journal in 1987.
“When the Alameda Times-Star started having issues (after the 1986 death of longtime publisher Abe Kofman), he saw a niche for a newspaper that catered more to local news,” Snyder said.
The Alameda Journal — or “the AJ,” as some call it — soon grew in acceptance and popularity among Alamedans. Meanwhile, Crittenden also earned the respect and admiration of his staffers. Longtime former sports editor Bill Kruissink, for one, pitched a story idea actually having nothing to do with sports in fall 1990. By April 1991, Kruissink was a regular member of the staff.
“(The story) was about a guy who remodeled old houses in Alameda,” said Kruissink, who continued with the paper long after Crittenden sold it. “The story was OK, but, whatever, Crit liked it. Not long after, our regular sports editor took another job, and I was in.”
Not only did the paper’s early success prompt it to start publishing twice each week, but it eventually attracted new owners. The founding partners, Crittenden and John McNulty, sold the paper in 1994 to Hills Newspapers Inc., then owned by W.A. “Chip” and Mary Brown, of Oakland, who in turn sold their chain of East Bay community publications in 1998 to the Contra Costa Times, which was owned by Knight-Ridder. In 2006, the Journal came under the umbrella of MediaNews Group, which picked up Knight-Ridder’s Bay Area holdings that had been sold months earlier to McClatchy.
Crittenden had decided to sell the paper when his wife, Salle, became ill. But the Crittendens recovered sufficiently enough to travel — extensively.
“He loved to travel,” Snyder said. “They went to Europe. They went to Asia. They traveled (throughout) the United States.”
Crittenden’s travels inspired stories and conversations.
“John and I remained very friendly throughout,” Kruissink wrote in an e-mail. “I was born in Chicago, a town that he and Salle visited often. We’d compare notes about that ‘ol’ toddlin’ town,’ often chatting for an hour or more.”
Born Feb. 19, 1931, in Oakland, Crittenden went on to graduate from Berkeley High School. Afterward, the outbreak of the Korean conflict interrupted his education. Upon completing his U.S. Army service as a decorated second lieutenant, Crittenden returned to civilian life and eventually completed his master’s studies at Cal.
On a personal level, John and Salle Crittenden married on June 4, 1966, after having first met 15 years earlier. Crittenden already had established himself as a successful businessman by the time he launched the Alameda Journal. As publisher, he maintained a strong dedication to quality journalism.
“Crittendon was a serious newspaper guy,” Kruissink said. “Yes, his real estate business kept the money coming in, but he continued to read the paper backward and forward. If he thought the paper was straying from its ‘townie’ roots, he would say so, occasionally with the entire news-end staff assembled.”
Crittenden was a widower at the time of his death. Salle Crittenden died at 82 on Jan. 24, 2014. He is survived by a sister as well as by Snyder and his, wife, Vickie; and their children Ryley, Tarren and Jordan.
In later years, Crittenden moved to Southern California, close to where the Snyders — currently back in Alameda — were living at the time.
“The guy was amazing to do what he did,” said Snyder. “He was a big part of Alameda.”
At Crittenden’s request, no services were held.
Archived staff reports contributed to this story.