He helped win $61 million to stop spam calls. Now Durham’s history museum gets a share.

In 2009, Thomas Krakauer took a phone call from a stranger named Ken — a telemarketer who promised big savings if he switched to Dish Network.

The call annoyed him. A retiree, he had already joined the federal do-not-call list, and he called Dish to complain. But he got another call, and another, until in 2014, Krakauer led a class-action suit against the satellite TV giant, representing 18,000 angry consumers.

Then last year, they finally won, collecting a $61 million judgment of which Krakauer will see only about $4,000. But as a parting shot, he asked his attorneys to give donation out of their share. So now Krakauer’s pet project, the Museum of Durham History, will get a $50,000 boost thanks to his fight for the little guy.

“It was sort of fun for me to be involved,” Krakauer said from his home in Durham Friday. “After the trial, I encountered several members of the jury , and they congratulated me and thanked me for being willing to stick it to them.”

Krakauer helps found history museum

Now in his late 70s, Krakauer cuts a familiar figure around the Bull City.

A zoologist from upstate New York, he arrived in 1985 to head the Durham Museum of Life & Science, boosting visitors from 80,000 a year to more than 300,000. Between his starting date and 2000, the museum’s budget grew from $675,000 to $4.2 million, opening a butterfly house and insectarium without ever running a deficit, the N&O previously reported.

In his Van Dyke beard and suspenders, he would stop to marvel at the wings on an Atlas moth or a caterpillar scarfing a leaf — always an admirer of nature as much as a fund-raiser and nonprofit leader.

Once he retired, Krakauer helped found the Durham history museum pledging it would never be boring. When it incorporated in 2008, it consisted of little more than a website and a board of directors. Five years later, it moved into the empty bus station on Main Street, and before the coronavirus pandemic set in, had scheduled a bike tour highlighting moments in the Civil Rights Movement.

“He is a spark plug of ideas and enthusiasm,” Patrick Mucklow, the museum’s executive director, said in a press release. “This gift would be extremely welcome at any time, but it’s a godsend right now, when the coronavirus pandemic has closed our doors.”

Lawyers step up with extra money

For Krakauer, suing Dish Network was never about money. He said as much on the witness stand.

“I’m asking for the jury to tell DISH they should not be permitted to make uncontrolled telemarketing calls, and if I get a couple bucks out of it, that’s fine,” he said, according to U.S. District Court transcripts. “It just seemed that somebody had to step forward and say that, stop it, you know, or pay a penalty.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond upheld the judgment last year, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take a look. So Krakauer said his lawyers asked if he could have a larger share of $30,000 since he had acted as the representative and carried more of the load.

“I guess the judge took me at my word,” he said Friday, recalling his not-in-it-for-the-money stance.

But when he asked his lawyers for $30,000, they bumped it to $50,000, to Krakauer’ delight.

“It makes me feel really good, obviously,” he said. “The call really ticked me off.”

This story was originally published May 29, 2020 at 12:02 PM.