Alan B. Crammatte, nicknamed “ABC,” was born in Aberdeen, Washington, and became deaf at age 15 due to meningitis. He transferred to the Washington State School for the Deaf, and went on to Gallaudet, graduating in 1932. He later earned a master’s degree in statistics from American University in 1946.

Crammatte taught at the New York School for the Deaf and the Louisiana School for the Deaf, and then worked as a statistician for the federal government during World War II. After the war, he worked as a printer for nine years, and then joined the Gallaudet faculty in 1956 as the founder, chair, and only member of the Department of Business Administration. He remained chair of the Business Administration department until his retirement in 1976. After his retirement, Crammatte remained involved in Gallaudet’s academic world, and was a contributor to the Middle States Association self-study that led to Gallaudet’s accreditation.

Crammatte was also a prolific writer and editor, including serving as editor of The Cavalier and The Gallaudet Record, as well as being a regular contributor to the American Annals of the Deaf. He was also a leader in the Gallaudet College Alumni Association, serving as comptroller of the Gallaudet Centennial Fund campaign in the 1960s. He was active in the early 1980s fundraising drive to renovate Ole Jim, and served on the GUAA board from 1979 through 1985.

He received an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet in 1977, and held the Powrie Vaux Doctor Chair of Deaf Studies from 1982 to 1983. He also published two definitive books on deaf employment, Deaf Persons in Professional Employment (1968) and Meeting the Challenge: Hearing Impaired Professionals in the Workplace (1987).

Alan B. Crammatte passed away in 1996.