David F. Cross ’59

Born and raised in Chicago, Dave died Sept. 21, 2025.

He attended South Shore High School and Shimer College en route to Princeton, where he held a Robert Stuart Eagle Scout scholarship. At Princeton, he ate at Court Club and roomed with Hal Heckman, Bob Jennings, and Bill Widenor. Majoring in biology, he graduated magna cum laude, then attended Yale Medical School, where he graduated cum laude. Subsequent training was at Yale-New Haven Medical Center, where he met his wife-to-be, Cheryl Wiberg.

More training followed at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif., and the National Heart Hospital in London, England. Following service as a lieutenant commander in the Navy Medical Corps from 1967 to 1969, he entered private practice in internal medicine in Rutland, Vt., practicing there for 30 years, serving as president of the medical staff at Rutland Regional Medical Center, and as a clinical instructor in medicine at the University of Vermont. After 33 years in Vermont the Cross family relocated to Virginia.

David’s interests beyond medicine were his family, classical music, skiing, sailing, pampering his New Dawn roses, and serving as “under-gardener” to Cheryl. He loved history and was a longtime Civil War buff, publishing a history of the Vermont Brigade’s disastrous engagement on June 23, 1864: A Melancholy Affair at the Weldon Railroad.

Dave is survived by his wife, Cheryl; four children; and eight grandchildren.