Jeremiah James Cronin

Jeremiah James Patrick (Jerry) Cronin, was born in Manhattan, New York City on the 23rd of October 1934 to John Cronin of Clonbannin Cross, Cork, Ireland and Anne Gunnoud of Waterbury, CT. He was the oldest of four boys.

Jerry grew up on the Irish west side of New York, attending Holy Trinity Elementary School and Rice High School. He went on to be a proud Jasper, graduating from Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Science in Physics. He later attended Stony Brook University and received his Master of Science in Applied Mathematics.

Jerry met Mary Lavina Osborne of Queens, New York in 1952, dating for 5 years before marrying at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in November of 1957.

In 1952, during his senior year in high school, Jerry joined the Army National Guard based out of the New York City Armory and proudly served his country as an infantryman for seven years from training at Fort Drum to performing honor guard duties for visiting international dignitaries in NYC. The National Guard allowed Jerry not only to serve his country but provided a primary source of pre-marriage social life for Jerry and Mary with the dances they loved to attend at the Armory.

Jerry and Mary started their family in Queens, New York and shortly after moved to East Northport on Long Island, where they built a home and grew their family. Church and family were the central focus of Jerry’s life. He was a member of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and School, where he played an active role in both church and school life. Despite having a busy home of six children with Mary, Jerry served his community dedicating countless hours to the church and school through volunteer work from church maintenance to youth organizations. Growing up on the rough side of NYC he was an avid believer in keeping kids busy to keep them out of trouble. Jerry was instrumental in the formation of the parish Catholic Youth Organization (CYO), eventually becoming president; he also served as Assistant Scoutmaster for his sons’ Boy Scout Troop, providing guidance on hikes, campouts, and all manner of activities.

Jerry began his career at Ford Instrument Company followed by a brief stint at Airborne Instrument Labs before joining Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation, where he would spend the next 31 years working on a broad spectrum of programs. He worked on many high-profile programs such as the Apollo Missions including the Lunar Module for the Apollo 11 Mission, F14 Tomcat, A6 Intruder, Space Shuttle, the Grumman Flexible bus and the US Postal Vehicle. Jerry received multiple awards during his career, most notably the National Aeronautics & Space Administrations (NASA) “Apollo Achievement Award” in 1969 and the Grumman Aerospace Corporation “Citation for Excellence” in 1973 for his work on the Lunar Module. Jerry retired from Grumman Aerospace in 1990. After retiring from Grumman, he kept his engineering mind busy working for various engineering startup companies and his own engineering consulting firm, JC Systems. It was in this latter part of his career that his drive and creativity were able to blossom even further as reflected in his patent in Fuel Cell Technology and his numerous papers presented at the Department of Energy, the Society of Automotive Engineers, and academia sponsored events.

Jerry was a longtime member of the American Physical Society and served as treasurer for the Colorado Chapter of The Society for Automotive Engineers (SAE).

After retirement from Grumman in 1990, Jerry and Mary moved to Niwot, Colorado. Once again, this decision reflected their strong family values to live close to the place where the majority of their children had made their homes. Here they were able to be part of their growing family through the weddings of their children, the birth of grandchildren, and the simple joys of being present for birthdays, holidays, school and other life events. In addition, they loved visits with their East Coast children and grandchildren. They became members of St. John the Baptist Catholic Church. Here Jerry continued in his service to the community through volunteer work at the Church and the neighborhood in which they lived.

Jerry enjoyed living in Niwot with its views of the mountains and many hiking trails. Here Jerry enjoyed sharing daily walks with his wife Mary. They were very fast walkers, with Jerry earning top placement in his age group in the Annual Bolder boulder 10K Run/Walk.

Jerry was predeceased by his parents, John and Anne, his brother John and wife Marie, brother Garrett, and his brother James and wife Dorothy.

Jerry is survived by his wife of 69 years, Mary, his six children: Jeremiah (Marcia), William (Brenda), Margaret (William), Theresa (Brian), Eileen (Mark), and Brian (Laurie). He is also survived by 12 grandchildren (Brent, Bridget, Roselyn, William, Anna, John, Christopher, Amelia, Kathryn, Lucia, Elizabeth, and Jeremiah, his brother Garrett’s wife Jacqueline as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Jerry will be greatly missed and will be remembered by his philosophy of never forgetting where you come from and always giving back. In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests you consider donations to USAgainstAlzheimers, an organization dedicated to prevention, early detection, and access to treatments for this devastating disease.

Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 10:30 AM at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church 323 Collyer Street, Longmont, Colorado. A reception will follow the Mass in Benedict Hall before the interment takes place at Longmont Mountainview Cemetery at 1 PM. Visitation will be held Monday, November 2, 2026, from 5 to 7 PM at the Ahlberg Funeral Chapel 326 Terry Street, Longmont, Colorado.

The family would like to invite everyone to the Niwot Inn for a Celebration of Life Service at 2 PM Tuesday following the services and burial. Please contact Ahlberg Funeral Chapel if anyone needs assistance.