Thomas Critchlow was born July 20, 1913 in Prospect, a small town in western Pennsylvania, which the Critchlows had helped settle in the 1790s. At the age of 12, Tom moved to Southern California. He attended public school in Ontario, California, where he was elected student body president of his high school and community college. He completed his junior year at the University of California, Berkeley, but had to return home to save his family's orange grove from foreclosure in the 1930s. While working, he completed his university degree at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1940. After officer's training school at the Coast Guard Academy, he served in the Pacific theater during the Second World War.

After the war, he entered the stock brokerage business, where he worked for a number of firms. He retired in 1988 and currently lives in La Jolla, California.

In 2008, the Thomas H. Critchlow Award was established in honor of the major benefactor of the Institute to assist graduate students and untenured faculty doing archival research in Pre-Twentieth Century Political and Policy History and American Political Development. The Award is given every other year the Policy History Conference. We are now accepting applications. Click here for application information.