Crim will be remembered as the first African American superintendent of a major Southern school system when he was appointed in 1973 following a controversial desegregation agreement.

He was the unknown outsider who brought calm and academic focus to Atlanta's public schools during his 15 years as the intense, soft-spoken driven leader of a majority Black school system, settling a desegregation suit first filed in the late 1950s.

As the city's school system grew increasingly dominated by African American students, Crim's, focus turned to educating the city's children, especially its poorest.

"We must be participants in the unfinished story of giving (poor)...children reason to believe that they too are equal and can look forward to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," Crim said in a 1986 statement from the Atlanta Public Schools archives. "All God's children can learn, especially Atlanta's children. Let's not just keep the faith, pass it on!"

Crim, 71, was killed in a three-car accident last Thursday, May 4, about three blocks from the high school named for him after his retirement in 1988.

Police said Crim was driving in the wrong direction in a reversible lane on DeKalb Avenue about 12:20 a.m. when he clipped one car, then collided with another. He died an hour later at Grady Memorial Hospital.

A wake for Crim will be held Sunday at Alfonso Dawson Mortuary from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Crim's body was to lie in state Monday morning at Ebenezer until the hour of the service.

The flags at Alonzo Crim Comprehensive High School and at Atlanta's other 96 schools flew at half-staff.

"We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Alonzo Crim," said Beverly Hall, current superintendent, in a public statement. "On behalf of the Atlanta Public Schools, I would like to extend to the Crim family our deepest sympathies and sorrow for the loss of one of the city's and the nation's finest educators."

In 1989, Murphy High School was renamed for Crim. He is the third living African-American to have a school named in his honor. Benjamin E. Mays was the second.

During his tenure, the Atlanta board approved a majority-to-minority busing plan in which Black students were voluntarily bused to under-enrolled predominately white schools.

He helped launch a school magnet program such as the one for performing arts at North Atlanta High School.

He persuaded the school board to build Benjamin E. Mays High School, which emphasizes science and technology.

Also under Crim's leadership, the school district launched a middle school program that served both to restructure class periods and to ensure a mix of students.

"I don't think this city yet knows what an impact Dr. Crim had on the school system per se in resolving the racial difficulties that desegregation had imposed," said Ozell Sutton, a U.S. Justice Department official in Atlanta who worked with Crim to implement the desegregation settlement.

Those who knew him well said Crim was still grieving the loss of his wife, Gwendolyn, who died two months ago. They had been married for 50 years.

"The city of Atlanta, the state of Georgia, and the country has lost more than an educator but also a noble, good man," said U.S. Rep. John Lewis (D- Atlanta). "He never gave up believing all children can learn and do better."

Upon retirement in 1988, he accepted a teaching position at Georgia State University in the newly established Benjamin E. Mays chair in urban educational leadership. He also was an education professor at Spelman College.

"We must realize that our major role is being...advocate(s) for children," Crim said in 1984. "We must make the contacts. We are the connection. We are the glue. We are the people who will build up a mighty nation to produce a more effective new generation."