Christopher Crutchfield, 54, brought joy and compassion to fight for justice

For Christopher Crutchfield, becoming CEO of St. Paul’s Ujamaa Place more than a year ago was the perfect pinnacle of a career seeking equity and justice for Black men ages 18-30.

A devoted and loving father of five, Crutchfield reveled in an almost dad-like role with the men enrolled at Ujamaa, which works with young Black men facing challenges connecting with society. A lawyer and longtime community corrections official, he was fiercely dedicated to fighting for fairness, yet was known by a smile that could light up the room.

Christopher E. Crutchfield died unexpectedly Nov. 4 after collapsing at work. His father, longtime Twin Cities physician Dr. Charles Crutchfield Sr., said his son suffered a dissected aortic aneurysm and died shortly after being transported to the hospital. He was 54.

“He brought joy to everybody he met,” the elder Crutchfield said. ”We talked almost every day.”

Andrea Jepsen, also an attorney and friends with Christopher Crutchfield since the third grade at Groveland Elementary in Minnetonka, became an Ujamaa board member at his invitation. They spent their lives “helping each other whenever we could,” Jepsen said. “He was a guy who said ‘Yes.’ He looked for ways to say ‘Yes.’”

Most recently, she said, he was working on a program to teach the men at Ujamaa Place to swim.

“His shoes are unfillable. He was my partner in crime and my fellow dreamer,” she said.

The son of Dr. Charles E. Crutchfield and the late Dr. Susan Ellis Crutchfield, he attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, graduating magna cum laude in 1992. He attended the University of Minnesota Law School, earning his degree in 1999.

Over the years, he worked for the Legislature and several community nonprofits. His work included serving as director and founder of the Phyllis Wheatley Legal Advice Clinic, and he started the Restorative Justice Task Force for the Summit University Planning Council that developed a restorative justice model for the neighborhood.

In 2001, Crutchfield was named a fellow at the Bush Foundation and worked to foster a love of the outdoors and outdoor cultural experiences for youth and the community. Former president of Osprey Wilds, then known as Audubon Center of the Northwoods, he also served as director of the Minnesota Department of Corrections/YWCA Youth Experiencing Alternatives program at Camp Ripley.

Friends and family said he loved fishing, often taking community members and the young men of Ujamaa Place on their first fishing trips. His father said they fished at Lake of the Woods all year, with walleye being the prized catch.

“He told me he loved fishing so much,” his father said. “He loved to talk about fishing, he loved watching shows about fishing. He loved fishing.”

After several years as a lawyer in private practice on Selby Avenue, Crutchfield became deputy director of community relations for Ramsey County Community Corrections. He led implementation and compliance of the federal Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003. He also headed the Internal Investigations Unit and the Volunteers in Corrections program.

John Klavins was director of Community Corrections. He said Crutchfield was an “illuminator,” adept at hearing people out and getting to the heart of a situation with empathy and action. Much of his work was connecting with people contacting the department — whether legislators, lawyers, police or the public.

“Chris was kind and compassionate, open to anybody who would call our department,” Klavins said. “He was a truly caring person.”

Crutchfield worked as adjunct professor in media, law and ethics at St. Cloud State University for nearly a decade and was also an adjunct professor at Inver Hills Community College, where he taught litigation to paralegals since 2019.

Erica Schumacher, director of strategic initiatives for the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office, said, “Everything he stood for, he did out of an abundance of passion and compassion, especially for young people.”

She, too, said his work at Ujamaa Place — helping young men who may have been in the corrections system or in the state foster care system — was “perfect for him.”

“On the day before Election Day, he called me — just a few hours before he passed — talking about his students [at Ujamaa Place] giving people rides to polls,” Schumacher said.

Michael Belton, who worked with Crutchfield for more than 20 years, most recently teamed up with his friend and colleague at Ujamaa Place, where Belton became chief operating officer after Crutchfield was named CEO. Crutchfield was in the room where participants and staff gather, he said, preparing for movie night — Jepsen said he was making popcorn for the guys — when he collapsed.

What he thinks about now, Belton said, is his friend’s laughter — a lot of laughter — and his smile.

“Chris was a very good friend of mine. I miss him a lot,” Belton said. “He was energy. And light. And love.”

Crutchfield was preceded in death by his mother and his brother, Dr. Charles E. Crutchfield III. He is survived by his wife, Thu-Mai Ho-Kim Crutchfield, his father, his children, Mahogany, Carmen, Coral, Christopher and Carina, nieces and nephews, other family members, and friends.

Services will be at 1 p.m. on Nov. 16 at the North End Event Center on the State Fairgrounds, 1265 Snelling Av. N., St. Paul.