Dr. George Crikelair, 84; Called for Fire-Resistant Children’s Sleepwear

Dr. George Crikelair, 84, a plastic surgeon at Columbia University, who in the 1960s became a leading advocate of fire-resistant coatings for children’s sleepwear, died of a stroke Feb. 24 at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Crikelair directed the plastic surgery service at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center from 1959 to 1977.

In the late 1950s, he noted that a number of patients had received severe injuries from burning clothing, often untreated cotton sleepwear. He was named to a national advisory committee that helped draft and promote the federal Flammable Fabrics Act, which was ratified in 1972 and set safety standards for certain fabrics.

A native of Green Bay, Wis., Crikelair received his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1944. In the 1970s, he was chairman of the American Board of Plastic Surgery and president of the American Society of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeons.