Freeman Craw

{{Short description|American typeface designer (1917–2017)}}

{{Use American English|date=May 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}

{{Infobox person

| image = Freeman Craw with Goudy Award, RIT NandE Vol13Num30 1981 Oct1 Complete.jpg

| caption = Craw in 1981

| other_names = Freeman Jerry Craw

| birth_name = Freeman Godfrey Craw

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1917|01|17|mf=y}}

| birth_place = East Orange, New Jersey, US

| death_date = {{Death date and age|2017|05|01|1917|01|17}}

| death_place = Tinton Falls, New Jersey, US

| occupation = Type designer

| alma_mater = Cooper Union School of Art

| awards = Frederic W. Goudy Award (1981)

}}

Freeman Godfrey Craw (January 17, 1917{{snd}}May 1, 2017) was an American typeface designer. His typefaces designed Craw Clarendon, Craw Modern and Ad Lib for American Type Founders.

Craw was born on January 17, 1917, in East Orange, New Jersey,{{Cite web |title=Freeman Craw |url=https://www.klingspor-museum.de/KlingsporKuenstler/Schriftdesigner/Craw/FGJCraw.pdf |access-date=May 3, 2025 |website=Klingspor Museum |language=de}} where he attended East Orange High School.[https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montclair-times-club-monogram-create/171926346/ "New Monogram Made for Club; Freeman Craw, Artist. Designs Seal."], The Montclair Times, November 26, 1963. Accessed May 7, 2025, via Newspapers.com. "The Montclair Women's Club adopted at its business meeting Friday a monogram designed by the artist, Freeman G. (Gerry) Craw of Short Hills.... Mr. Craw was born in East Orange and attended East Orange High School and Cooper Union, New York City." He graduated at Cooper Union School of Art in 1939.{{Cite web |title=Freeman Craw Obituary |url=https://obits.nj.com/us/obituaries/starledger/name/freeman-craw-obituary?id=10031203 |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=The Star-Ledger}}

From 1943 to 1968, he worked as an art director then vice president for Tri-Arts Press. In 1946, he was a founding member of Type Directors Club.{{Cite web |title=About: Our History |url=https://archive.tdc.org/our-history/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=The Type Directors Club: Archive}} In 1966, Craw commissioned two typefaces for CBS, under the direction of Lou Dorfsman.{{cite web |last=Roalf |first=Peggy |date=March 19, 2015 |title=CBS: The Sign of Good Television |url=https://www.ai-ap.com/publications/article/13343/cbs-the-sign-of-good-television.html |website=DART |publisher=AI-AP |access-date=2025-05-02}} In 1981, he received Frederic W. Goudy Award,{{Cite newsletter |date=October 1, 1981 |title=Craw Honored with Goudy Award |url=https://repository.rit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3231&context=unipubs |access-date=May 3, 2025 |magazine=News and Events |publisher=Rochester Institute of Technology |location=Rochester, New York |page=3 |format=PDF |volume=13 |issue=30}} and in 1988, he achieved honorary membership.{{Cite web |title=Freeman Craw |url=https://archive.tdc.org/awardwinners/freeman-craw/ |access-date=2025-05-02 |website=The Type Directors Club: Archive |language=en-US}}

Craw had been a resident of the Short Hills section of Millburn, New Jersey, until 2001, when he moved to Tinton Falls, New Jersey, where he died on May 1, 2017.