Robert Paul Crosby, WWII Veteran, Dies at 86

Robert Paul Crosby passed away on 15 Nov. 2012 at his assisted living residence at The Bristal at Westbury, New York. He was 86 years old.

Mr. Crosby was born on 17 May 1926 to Anna and Paul Crosby of North Bergen, NJ. The youngest of three children with an older sister and brother, his mother raised him after his father’s early death. He graduated from St. Brigid’s Catholic Grade School and Union Hill High School, where he excelled as a football player noted frequently in area papers.  

Robert was accepted into Syracuse University, then volunteered for military service and entered World War II in 1944 at age 17 and, after graduating from Bedford Springs Radio School, he served aboard the U.S.S. PC 610 mine sweeper as a Radioman Second Class.

His duty and combat zone posts were all across the Pacific including New Guinea, the Admiralty Islands, the invasion at Borneo, Leyte Gulf, Okinawa, Shanghai, Peking, Philippines, Marshall Islands, Pearl Harbor and San Diego. Then to Manzanillo, Panama Canal, Key West, St. John River and Lido Beach, New York.  He traveled 25K miles, and was honorably discharged in 1946.

Robert attended Syracuse University on the GI Bill, was a member of Phi Kappa Psi national fraternity with the nickname “Bing,” and played football his senior year and earned his bachelor’s degree in 1952. He remained a lifelong alumni supporter and regularly attended games.  

He met his wife Helga Frankwich Crosby in New York, married in 1954 and moved to Forest Hills, and then Garden City, where they settled in 1962 and where he resided on Tullamore Road, and then Hilton Hall Apartments, until 2011.

Mr. Crosby started his career as an insurance agent, broker and account executive eventually with Alexander & Alexander and Travelers. He later studied graduate accounting at Hofstra University, and was an auditor at Long Island Lighting Company, an auditor at New York Times media and then assistant controller at Family Circle®. Having been director of Fiscal Affairs at The Wartburg nursing home, and with U.S. Title 18 Medicare Audit experience, he was recruited to an auditing group with the New York State Department of Law, Attorney General for Nursing Home Violations of Federal and State Statutes. He was also controller at at Providence Rest Nursing Home and was a member of Health Care Financial Management Association. Mr. Crosby then pursued an entrepreneurial path as an independent account specializing in trusts and estates, and was fiduciary accountant for the Rockville Centre Trusts and Foundation.

He joined his wife in Crosby Realty residential brokerage in Garden City in 1992, with offices first on Franklin Avenue and then on Seventh Street.  

Robert was an avid casual golfer and, through time, played couples’ and competitive duplicate bridge and tennis at the Garden City Casino, for which he also served as treasurer and trustee. Politically active with his wife on both sides of the aisle through the years, he was a member of the Republican Party and attended two presidential inaugurals.
 
Mr. Crosby greatly enjoyed living on Long Island where his favorite fishing and relaxation spot was Montauk.  His ashes will be spread, with those of his wife Helga who passed away in 1998, and son Scott Crosby who passed away in May 2012, off Montauk Point at a memorial occasion the details of which will be published. Robert is survived by his daughter, Lisa Crosby Clark, and granddaughter Rachel Sierra Clark, of San Diego, California.

Anyone wishing to contact the family can email Lisa_C_Clark@yahoo.com.