Gerald "Gerry" E. Crane was born Dec. 3, 1926, in London, England. There, he received his early education in architecture and urban planning.

In 1955, he came to Detroit as a Fulbright scholar while attending Cornell University. In the Motor City, he began working on planning what would become the Detroit Medical Center "urban renewal" project. This work was done with partner Norbert Gorwic under the firm Crane & Gorwic. Similarly, Crane was a lead part of the Elmwood Park redevelopment project.

Their urban planning philosophy promoted high density of use and compact development and a network of plazas within a pedestrianized core that had limited access for automobiles.

In 1965, Crane & Gorwic completed a master plan for the University of Kentucky. In 1966, Crane was hired as a consultant on a city beautification effort in Lawrence, Kan.

Crane became a naturalized American citizen in May 1965.

Following the folding of their firm in the late 1960s, both Crane and Gorwic became faculty at the University of Michigan's Department of Urban Planning. Crane even served as the department's chair. Both men also taught at the Department of Urban Planning at Wayne State University.

Crane died at age 79 on Sept. 8, 2006, in Ann Arbor, Mich.