R. Critchfield; Wrote About Society’s Origins

Richard Critchfield, war correspondent and author who studied villages as the building blocks of society, has died at age 63.

Critchfield, who lived in Berkeley, died Dec. 10 in a Washington, D.C., hospital, a week after suffering a stroke. He had gone to Washington to promote his latest book, “The Villagers,” a follow-up to his 1981 book, “Villages.”

His international study was often financed by grants from the Ford Foundation and the Alicia Patterson Foundation. In 1981, he became one of the first recipients of the MacArthur “genius” grants, which support creative people for five years, enabling them to pursue whatever project they choose.

A native of North Dakota, Critchfield earned a bachelor’s degree at the University of Washington, a master’s at Columbia University and did graduate work at Innsbruck and Vienna universities. After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Critchfield began his writing career as farm editor of the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Gazette.

He later covered the Vietnam War for the Washington Star, earning the Overseas Press Club Award. His first book, “The Long Charade,” was about the Vietnam War. He also wrote a popular book titled “Those Days: An American Album,” using his family history to illustrate America’s shift from rural to urban society.

Critchfield is survived by his sister, Peggy Critchfield Moffett of Berkeley, and brother, Jim Critchfield of Delaplane, Va., and several nieces and nephews.