Ward Crutchfield

Ward Crutchfield
Member of the Tennessee Senate
from the 10th district
In office
January 8, 1985  July 27, 2007
Preceded byBill Ortwein
Succeeded byAndy Berke
In office
January 7, 1963  January 3, 1967
Member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from Hamilton County
In office
January 2, 1961  January 7, 1963
Preceded byZ. Cartter Patten Jr.
Succeeded byArvin H. Reingold
In office
January 7, 1957  January 5, 1959
Preceded byJ. Fred Johnson Jr.
Succeeded byZ. Cartter Patten Jr.
Personal details
Born
William Ward Crutchfield

(1928-12-06)December 6, 1928
Chattanooga, Tennessee
DiedApril 3, 2016(2016-04-03) (aged 87)
Chattanooga, Tennessee
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Catherine Joan Nunley
(m. 1966)
Education
Occupation
  • Lawyer
  • politician
Military service
Allegiance United States
Branch/serviceUnited States Army
Years of service1953–1954

William Ward Crutchfield (December 6, 1928 – April 3, 2016) was an American politician and a Democratic member of the Tennessee Senate for the 10th district, which encompassed Marion County and part of Hamilton County. He was a member of the Tennessee House of Representatives from 1957 to 1959 and 1961 to 1963. He served as a state senator from 1963 to 1967 as well as in all General Assemblies from 1987 to 2007.

Crutchfield was a member of the Senate Finance, Ways and Means Committee; Senate Commerce, Labor, and Agriculture; and the Senate Education Committee. He was Chairman of the Senate Labor Committee during the 83rd and 84th General Assemblies. He served as the Democratic leader during the 101st through 103rd General Assemblies, and he was a Senate Democratic Caucus chairman.

He attended the University of Chattanooga (now the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) and received a J.D. from the University of Tennessee College of Law in Knoxville in 1951. He received an honorable discharge from the U.S. Army. He is a former member of the Metropolitan Government Charter Commission. He worked as an attorney, having once been an acting attorney for Hamilton County and an attorney for the Hamilton County Board of Education.