Atlanta family honors aspiring lawyer killed by falling tree through student scholarships

A community is keeping the memory of an aspiring lawyer alive by supporting students across metro Atlanta.

Gerald Crawford died in 2020 when a tree fell on his southwest Atlanta home.

While speaking with CBS News Atlanta, Cynthia Crawford returned to Midtown High School's football field for the first time since 2009. The school was then known as Grady High School, and it was where her only son, Gerald, graduated that year.

Crawford said she and her late husband spent years watching their son play football on the field.

"He just always knew football was his game," Crawford said.

She said Gerald had a bright future ahead of him, but her husband was anxious about watching their son move on.

"He just said, 'What are we going to do now?'" Crawford recalled. "At that point, I told him, 'OK. Now we look forward to him finishing law school and having grandparent duty.'"

Crawford said one of her proudest moments was watching Gerald graduate from Cooley Law School.

"I don't think it ever happened, but that was the day I told him, 'Today, I cut the apron strings,'" she said.

Gerald died shortly before he was scheduled to take the bar exam. His family said the tree that fell on the home was on city property. In June, the family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city.

As they coped with their grief, Gerald's friends and loved ones created the Gerald D. Crawford Foundation. The foundation has awarded about $30,000 to high school and college students across metro Atlanta since 2021.

"That's the most important thing to me," Crawford said. "Even if I'm gone, the foundation will continue to touch the lives of others."

Wendell Campbell IV, a sophomore at Morehouse College, received $2,000 from the foundation last year to help pay for books and tuition.

"It really pulls on the heartstrings, especially knowing how hard he worked through law school," Campbell said. "It's just really unfortunate because he seemed like such a great guy."

Crawford said her mother and husband, who also lived in the family's former home, have since died. She said it has been difficult to keep moving forward without them. She also grieves that she will never become a grandmother now that Gerald is gone.

"Even with my faith, there are mornings when I wake up and wonder, 'Why?'" Crawford said. "But then I think back, and God doesn't owe me an explanation. But he doesn't say I can't keep asking."

Crawford maintains a bench near the garden in front of her home. It is adorned with plaques honoring Gerald, her mother and her husband.

Anyone interested in learning more about the Gerald D. Crawford Foundation can click here.