Harry Jennings Crawford (H. J.) died in 1953.
In 2025, he will pay the medical bills of patients at UPMC Northwest.
Born in Emlenton in 1867, he worked as a young man pumping oil wells for his father. After spending a few years as manager and treasurer of the Emlenton Gas Company, he became involved in the banking business and grew into a skilled businessman and financier, organizing and directing a number of banks in Venango and Clarion Counties.
H. J. served as President of Quaker State Oil Refining Company from its founding in 1931 to 1948, and then served as Chairman of the Board from 1948 to 1953. At the time of his death, he was President of the Oil City National Bank.
H. J. was a well-known community philanthropist. He built the Crawford Memorial School in Emlenton as a gift to the city. At Grove City College, he created the H. J. Crawford Scholarship Trust and built the Crawford Hall.
In 1939, he established a trust whose income would benefit eleven different charitable and educational purposes. Income from one of those funds is dedicated to defraying the cost of medical care for patients at the Oil City Hospital, now UPMC Northwest. In the past 10 years, the H. J. Crawford Trust has provided nearly $100,000 to help pay the medical debt of patients at UPMC Northwest.
Just like H. J. Crawford, you can leave your legacy by making a planned gift to the Northwest Hospital Foundation. Making a bequest in your will costs you nothing today and makes all the difference tomorrow.
For more information about making a planned gift, please contact Executive Director Theresa Edder at edderta2@upmc.edu or 814.676.7145.
