Martin Thomas Crouse, Longtime Westport Resident, 62

Martin Thomas Crouse, a devoted husband and father, talented artist and intuitive electrical engineer who lived in Westport for nearly 30 years, died June 10th after a long and valiant fight with cancer. He was 62.

He is survived by his wife, Laurie; son, Cimarron; and daughter, Alyssa, all of Westport; brother, Dennis Crouse, of Annapolis, Maryland; brother in-law, Jon Dworkow, of Norwalk; mother-in-law, Estelle Dworkow, and fathers-in-law, Peter Ash and the late-Sol Dworkow, all of Westport.

Martin was born December 30, 1948, in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, to the late- Joseph and Mary Crouse. As an engineer in the U.S. Army, he was stationed in Texas and Korea. Upon his discharge, he traveled to Colorado where he met Laurie Dworkow, a Westport native who was in Denver to attend college. Together they founded Martin Uniques, an electronic jewelry gallery and studio. They were married on June 10th, 1979—32 years to the day of his death.

After moving to Westport in the early ‘80s, the couple continued to custom design jewelry at the same time that Martin began working for Micrognosis, a computer manufacturer and systems integration company based in Georgetown, Connecticut. As a project manager, over the course of the decade he oversaw financial trading floor installations for the New York Stock Exchange and international financial institutions in Paris, Zurich, London, Australia and Tokyo.

Fueling his accomplishments were an adventurous spirit, an original and seemingly inexhaustible creative energy, and an uncanny ability to solve complex problems. Drew Henderson, a co-founder of Micrognosis who hired Martin, remembers the rarity of that ability. “He didn’t have a classic engineering discipline—he wasn’t disciplined—but he had a magical diagnostic ability. Most engineers are too careful. Martin wasn’t careful. He had no fear.”

On one project, Henderson recalls, Martin was called in to help with a major installation that had encountered an insoluble problem. After pacing and asking questions, he laid down on the floor and a few minutes later announced the solution. “His process wasn’t based on scientific methodology,” Henderson says. “There didn’t seem to be any process. It just happened. I saw this again and again.”

Martin will also be remembered by his many friends for his gentle heart, unique sense of humor, and love of family and life. In addition to art, he enjoyed gardening and was a member of the Westport Community Gardens.

A celebration of Martin Crouse’s life was held at the Unitarian Church on Lyons Plain Road in Westport on June 17.