Roger Lynn Crossgrove was born in Farnam, Nebraska in 1921. He was raised on the family farm where his father and grandfather raised shorthorn cattle and ran a farming cooperative. Roger’s mother, a self-taught artist, encouraged his interest in art. He served in the US Army as a Staff Sergeant, 73rd Field Hospital, in Leite, Philippines from 1942 to 1946, receiving several medals including the Philippine Liberation Ribbon with 1 Bronze Star. 
After his military service, Roger returned to the USA and attended college on the GI Bill. He received his BFA from the University of Nebraska in 1949 and his MFA in 1951 from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. He lived and painted in Mexico for two years, first in 1950 on the GI Bill and again in 1965. Roger married Wynona McDermand in 1948 and they raised six children together. Moving to Brooklyn NY after college, Roger worked at Harrison, Ballard, and Allen advertising, before being hired at Pratt Institute. He taught in the Pratt Department of Graphic Art and Illustration until 1968 when he was recruited for the position of Department Head at the School of Fine Arts at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He taught there until his retirement in 1988. 
Crossgrove exhibited widely in group shows as well as solo shows; in Mexico City, Artworks Gallery in Hartford, The William Benton Museum, The Babbidge Library and The Slater Memorial Museum. He received numerous awards including an Emily Lowe award, a National Arts Club Gold Medal, and others from the American Watercolor Society, Audubon Artists, and the Butler Institute of American Art. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Fine Arts, Connecticut Watercolor Society, and a founding member of Artworks Gallery. He is listed in Who's Who in the East and Who's Who in American Art. His works are included in many public and private collections. He spent several summers in residency at Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, NY and continued to create artwork well into his eighties, while vacationing in Waldoboro, Maine.
Roger produced watercolor monotypes for more than fifty years, making it his signature medium. He participated in traveling exhibits of monotypes, and his work is referenced in anthologies of the technique. In 1976 Roger began to explore various aspects of photography, focusing on the male nude. Roger explored time exposure and penlight drawing, referencing classic sculpture, Muybridge motion studies and abstraction in his figurative work. 
Roger’s many years teaching at Pratt and UConn had a lasting influence on his students. He was beloved as teacher and mentor and friend by countless former students including Tomie DePaola, Robert Mapplethorpe, Joseph A. Smith, and Michael Maslin. Described as patient, supportive, firm, friendly, generous and cheerful, he is remembered for well-rounded foundational lessons, in a wide variety of idioms, as crucial preparation for fine art or illustration. Students recall his thoughtful and creative construction of still-life and lighting arrangements for studio classes.
Roger was also an enthusiastic instructor of children’s book illustration, teaching several prominent children’s book author/illustrators. He was a founding member of the American Book Collectors and of the UConn Connecticut Children’s Book Fair for 24 years, and was a longtime supporter of the Northeast Children’s Literature Collection at the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, which received his extensive collection of children’s books. Roger was honored by Connecticut’s Poet Laureate, Marilyn Nelson, with her poem entitled “The Good Man” in 2002. He was the recipient of the UConn School of Fine Arts Lifetime Achievement Award in 2008.
Roger was also closely involved in the cultural and artistic life of Hartford and Eastern Connecticut. His efforts have had a broad influence on arts organizations throughout New England.
Roger Crossgrove had an even and patient temperament and a surprisingly stealthy sense of humor. He was a sociable and engaged community member and voracious enthusiast for art. He was constantly active in arranging and mounting art exhibits, attending art events, visiting NYC galleries, and occasionally traveling to California, Italy, Nebraska, or Maine. He was an adventurer in art, with a fantastic sense of color, vibrant gesture, unusual subject matter and unusual combinations of media. He retained his intellectual curiosity, acute esthetic awareness and appreciation of color and beauty to his final days. 
Roger’s papers reside at the Smithsonian Institution’s Archives of American Art. His photographic materials were donated to the Dodd Center at the University of Connecticut Library.