Liz Crocker creates spaces where connections help people thrive

While at her core she feels she’s an educator, Crocker says, “I’m really just a crow and everything is a shiny piece of tinfoil for me.” She adds, “Much happens when one is open to opportunity.”

Opportunity struck early for Crocker when, at 16 years old, with a grade 11 diploma from a Montreal high school, she was accepted into Dal to study math.

Her father, Alexander Campbell QC (BA’25, LLM’27), had gone to Dal, and because both Crocker’s parents were from Nova Scotia, the family had summered here.

She was turned on to history by Dal professor Guy MacLean (1929–2021), whom she says changed her life: “He brought history alive and made it about people, choices and humanity. Suddenly the world opened up, and I was fascinated by history and political science.” Crocker transferred to a Political Science major and never looked back.

She taught after graduating, first on a military base in Ontario and eventually at Halifax Grammar School. A student’s father was Dr. Richard Goldbloom, then physician-in-chief at Halifax’s IWK Children’s Hospital. After a spirited conversation they had about ways to help children through their hospitalizations and health-care experiences through play and education, Dr. Goldbloom offered Crocker a job she began in 1971, setting up the IWK’s internationally recognized . To this day, it supports children and their families coping with incredible challenges.

Starting stores and a centre with higher purpose

With her deeply held belief in the healing power of play and stories, and while raising a family, in 1978 Crocker co-founded Halifax’s beloved children’s bookstore, , along with her husband, Dal Law alum Brian Crocker (BA’67, LLB’71) (1942–2014) and friend Ann Connor Brimer. It carries the moniker ‘Canada’s oldest children’s bookstore’ and though moved from its original location, it continues to be a whimsical place of discovery and delight.

Crocker also owned the general bookstore Frog Hollow Books and P’lovers, an environmental store “before that was a thing,” which expanded to several Canadian franchises.

Throughout this period, she and Dr. Richard Goldbloom continued their tradition of spirited conversations, out of which they founded Halifax’s Discovery Centre, along with long-time Dal physics professor Dr. Gerhard Stroink, in 1990. Now, the three visionaries are being awarded a Meritorious Service Medal by the Governor General for establishing the centre, where the wonders of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) could take permanent residence in the hearts and minds of Nova Scotians and visitors.

From advocacy to authorship

Through it all, Crocker continued working as a patient advocate. She chaired the Canadian Institute of Child Health and the Association for the Care of Children in Hospitals.

Crocker is now Vice-Chair and Board Member of the Institute for Patient- and Family-Centered Care (IPFCC).  Bev Johnson, the President of IPFCC, and Crocker co-authored Privileged Presence: Personal Stories of Connections in Health Care. Crocker has also , two historical novels, two children’s books, and hundreds of articles in books, magazines and newspapers.

Enduring community connections

Across the breadth of her many experiences, Crocker has found a thread that runs through all: “It boils down to moments when you have a deep authentic connection with someone about something that means something to you or them,” she says. “That can be putting the right book in the right hands, or collaborating to implement an innovative idea or listening to someone’s pain or trauma and saying something in a way that offers comfort or perspective in a way that’s useful.”

Crocker’s is a legacy built not on titles, but on the countless lives she’s touched through curiosity, compassion and care. Her life’s work, in all its forms, continues to ripple outward in the connections she sparks and the communities she strengthens. And for Crocker, those meaningful moments of connection remain the brightest “shiny pieces” of all.