Crandall Bay, Wildlands Studies Founder 1945-2024

Tribute from Leslie Arutunian, Director, Wildlands Studies

Crandall Bay had the most magnificent voice. It resonated with warmth, ease, welcome, and empathy. It was how I knew him best. Crandall and his wife, Marcee, established Wildlands Studies in 1979 with a vision to share our remarkable planet with undergraduate students and provide a true hands–on immersive field experience. I was one of those wide–eyed undergraduates, eager to do something different, and had the serendipitous opportunity to meet Crandall in person as a participant on my first Wildlands Studies program in Hawaii in 1987. My experience was so impactful that I decided to join the Baja Wildlands Studies program the following winter. 

Fast forward thirty years. I had remained in contact with Crandall and Marcee over the years, and in 2007, I became the owner and director of Wildlands Studies, where I had the honor to continue Crandall’s legacy and work with him daily on the phone. I relied on his wise counsel, calm and soothing demeanor, and extensive expertise. I continued to depend on Crandall for my entire first decade at Wildlands Studies and always left our calls feeling certain I had made the most meaningful decision of my life when I decided to carry on the vision of Wildlands Studies, although probably the hardest. Crandall had written a statement in the Wildlands materials that continues to resonate with me today, and I hope his words will forever guide this wonderful organization:

“We love our wildlands. Wherever we go, we strive seriously to minimize our impact on the land. We believe that to know its beauty and feel its inner music is a human need, a need important to our hearts as well as our heritage.”

I will miss Crandall personally and professionally. He was a wonderful, compassionate, caring human who created a legacy that has inspired thousands of young people, and most especially me.

TRIBUTE FROM CHRIS CARPENTER, WILDLANDS FIRST INTERNATIONAL LEAD INSTRUCTOR

Crandall Bay and I met in the early 1980s when Wildlands Studies was so young, it was still “Wildlands Research.” On that day, I was a newbie teaching assistant at UC Davis, running the slide projector for Bio Sci 1. After class, Crandall gave some students a pitch for his new program of environmental field courses and, liking the idea of teaching outdoors, I came up to Crandall on his way out and asked whether he might possibly need a TA. We chatted briefly and then, in that voice of calm candor that everyone who knew Crandall remembers, he said to my astonishment, ”yes, we might.”

Fast forward a couple of years. Crandall and his wife Marcee were looking to expand Wildlands to other countries and Crandall encouraged me to help set up a field course in the mountains of China. There were day trips to Santa Cruz brainstorming over coffee, and three years later I was all–in with Wildlands in Asia: China, Nepal, and Thailand. This was all pre–Internet, with faxes and traveler’s checks and perpetual uncertainty. Then one afternoon came the epiphany: this outdoor teaching thing that I loved so much, I could just keep doing it and doing it, and I knew it would never get old. For the first time, I had a sense of what my real work could be.

During my transition from graduate school to a semi–nomadic Wildlands–centric life in Asia, Crandall and Marcee were always available (by phone or fax), unfailingly gentle and validating, and brimming with creativity. Although we never hiked together, I imagine Crandall must have had such charismatic presence in the wild: erudite, embracing, just the right amount of hippy for the end days of the 20th century. Seeming tireless yet chill, Crandall and Marcee built a resilient enterprise with a light footprint and a commendable degree of responsibility delegated to the teachers.

Now, well into its fifth decade, Wildlands Studies continues to inspire students to care more about Earth. Its courses have fostered countless friendships among alumnae, and some deep cross–cultural connections as well. Had I, as a teenager, been foretold the future that Crandall helped me find, I’d have jumped for joy. I am so immensely grateful to have been working the slide projector that day Crandall came to Davis.