William Biswell Croft

William B. Croft, 85, of Dallas, Texas, died peacefully at home surround loved ones from complications of lung cancer. He lived a very full life was a larger-than-life presence who made an impact on those he touched and left great empty spaces in those blessed enough to have known him.

Bill Croft was born in the east Texas oil field boom town of Troup Texas on February 5, 1940 to Wesley Glenn Croft and Ester Lewis Croft. He was raised in a rural area where his father worked for Mr. Sinclair as superintendent of two Sinclair Oil refineries. Bill worked as a tree-surgeon, and as an oil field pipe fitter.

He proudly attended Gaston School District grades 1 to 12, where he saw Elvis perform in the school auditorium and met Carolyn Posey, his high school sweetheart and later his wife. They had 2 beautiful daughters Nicole and Rebecca prior to their divorce in 1970. He remarried in 1974 to Linda Case and had a son, William “Stacey.”

He attended Kilgore and Tyler Junior Colleges while working to save money. He attended the first university to offer married student housing with an architectural school, Texas A&M. As a student, Bill worked construction, and in architectural firms. After 3 years, he took a short-term job in a Rio Grand Valley architectural firm. Then Bill moved to Austin where he found work with Brooks and Barr, who was President LBJ’s architectural firm.

He enrolled at the University of Texas where he obtained a Bachelor of Architecture degree. Already an experienced architect through his work on President LBJ’s projects, he worked as a Project Architect on several major Austin buildings. His span of work ranges from Minnetonka, to Palm Springs, and Atlanta to New Jersey and every Texas metropolitan area, with projects totaling over 8 million square feet and $2 billion in construction costs.

Throughout his career, Bill worked at prestigious architectural firms such as Heery, and HKS, where as a principal, and 5th largest shareholder, he was in charge of local projects including JC Penny’s Headquarters, EDS Corporate Headquarters in Plano, (which he privately called Plano International Airport,) what is now the MaryKay building in North Dallas, and the GTE Campus, now Verizon, in Los Colinas. He worked with his teams on Master Plans, which are the foundation of many communities in Texas. The skylines of most Texas cities were irrevocably altered by Bill and his teams.

Bill left HKS for SKJB Croft, with Richard Jennings, which he ultimately bought and the firm became 3Ci Architects; Croft, Compton Company, Inc. in 1995 with Doug Compton. He led that firm to be the 17th largest architectural firm and the number one Emerging Company in the DFW Metroplex, (as ranked by the Dallas Business Journal.) Finally, he founded Croft Architectural Consortium with Matt Karpenko in 2003 where he finished his career.

His favorite aspect of architecture was the molding, development and strengthening of his team members, followed closely by the acquisition of new projects, and the heart of the architectural engineering process. Those fortunate enough to work with or for Bill Croft seldom recognized how much he influenced their strengths and careers until years later. Hence the loving moniker, ‘The Legend.”

Bill is survived by his wife, Janea Montgomery, sister Linda Yarbrough, daughters, Rebecca Neilson and Nicole Ureles, his son, W. Stacey Croft (Megan), his step-daughters Raechel Edwards, Cera Therrien (Stuart), and Natalie Hobdy (Weston,) his granddaughter Sabrina Neilson Hancock (Tyler,) his grandsons Jake and Cole Croft. His great granddaughter Emily Hancock, his step-grandchildren Chloe & Adaira Edwards, Skye & Claire Therien, Eliza, Emmett and Emory Hobdy, along with many nieces and nephews and their children and grandchildren.

Bill was a longtime member of the AIA, TREC and a Life Member of his beloved Texas Ex-Students Association and a Covenant Member of Highland Park Presbyterian Church.

There will be a Visitation on Saturday December 27th at 1pm at Sparkman Hillcrest Mortuary to be followed at 2pm with a service celebrating his life. After the service he will be cremated and his ashes will be spread next summer at Lake Cypress Springs.