William James McCroskey *66

Jim died of complications of Parkinson’s disease in Palo Alto, Calif., May 26, 2023.

Born March 9, 1937, in San Angelo, Texas, Jim earned a bachelor of science degree from the University of Texas in 1960 and a Ph.D. in mechanical and aerospace engineering from Princeton in 1966.

Jim was a research engineer at the United States Army Aeromechanics Laboratory, Moffett Field, Calif., from 1966 to 1980. He then served as a senior research scientist at NASA’s Aeronautics Directorate. With the emergence of research opportunities based on supercomputers, he focused on computational research and served as a bridge between numerical analysts and experimentalists. He retired in 2000.

Jim’s other assignments included as an exchange scientist at the Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales, in Châtillon, France, 1972-1973; and a member of the fluid dynamics panel with NATO’s Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development from 1976 to 1994. Jim’s awards included the French Médaille l’Aéronautique, the Group for Aerospace Research and Development von Kármán medal, and the American Helicopter Society Howard Hughes Award.

Predeceased by his wife, Betty, Jim is survived by daughters Nancy McCroskey and Susan Kresin ’86; and granddaughters Lydia and Madeline Kresin.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.