Edward J. Craig

Edward J. Craig, 91, of the Home of the Good Shepherd and former longtime resident of Clifton Park died on Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015 at his residence. He was born in Springfield, MA, the son of the late Frank W. and Lillian E. Rogenmoser Craig. He attended Cathedral High School for three years and graduated from Albany High School in 1941. He entered Union College in the fall of 1941 and enlisted in the U.S. Army in December 1942. He had his basic training in the Infantry and transferred to the Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet in the fall of 1943, receiving a commission as 2nd Lt. and Navigator in the fall of 1944. He was assigned to the 460th Bombardment Squadron as a navigator on a B-29. The Squadron was sent to Tinian in the Marianas and then to Okinawa in the Ryukyus. He was separated from service in Sept. 1946 as a 1st Lt. and reentered Union College, graduating in June 1948 with a BS in Electrical Engineering (EE). He taught Mathematics at Union College for one year and matriculated at MIT, receiving a doctorate in EE in June 1954. He taught in the EE Dept. of Northeastern University in Boston, MA from 1953 to 1956, and returned to Union College as a professor of EE that year. He was Chair of the EE Dept. at Union (1973-74) and (1976-83), appointed an Associate Dean of Faculty at Union (1974-76), Dean of Engineering in 1984, retiring from Union in Nov. 1991. While at Union, he spent the 1979-80 year teaching at the University of Liberia, in Monrovia, Liberia; and another year, 1989-90, at the University of Puerto Rico in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He is the author of two textbooks and more than 18 technical papers. He is the author of EE at Union; The Craigs of Rimmon Avenue with his sister, Lillian, and his brother, Frank; and a year in Liberia with his wife, Jeanne, and son, William. The first book was a history of the Electrical Engineering Program at Union College, the second is about his childhood in Chicopee, MA, and the third about their year in Monrovia, Liberia, and the coup in April 1980 that toppled its government. He was instrumental in the founding of the Olde Timers Softball League in 1990 and served for three years as its president and four years as its secretary. He coached Little League and Babe Ruth baseball and was an avid basketball player. He also served as a Cub Master and was active in Boy Scouts. He had been a lector at St. Helen's Church in Niskayuna (1968-74) and a lector, Eucharistic minister, and member of the funeral choir at St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park (1974-present). He was the husband of the late Jeanne M. McDonald Craig, whom he married on June 19, 1947; and is the father of Theresa A. Glunz of Winchester, MA, David E. Craig of Clifton Park, NY, Stephen R. and Virginia Jonczak Craig of Raleigh, NC, Anita M. Cummings of Medford, OR and William P. and Christina Martiniano Craig of Wakefield, RI; brother of Frank (Jean) Craig of Colonie, NY and the late Lillian Kuehn; also survived by nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Funeral will be held Tuesday morning at 11:30 a.m. from St. Edward the Confessor Church in Clifton Park, where the Mass of Christian Burial will be Celebrated. Calling hours will be from 5 to 8 p.m., Monday, in the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home, 1550 Rt. 9 in Clifton Park. Interment with full military honors will be on Wednesday at 1 p.m. in the Gerald BH Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville. Funeral arrangements have been entrusted by the family to the Gordon C. Emerick Funeral Home, 1550 Route 9, Clifton Park, NY 12065, 518-371-5454, emerickfh@gmail.com.