Peter Alan Crosby, a long-time resident of Pacific Palisades died at the UCLA Santa Monica Hospital on April 11.
He was born October 20, 1945, in Santa Barbara to parents Harold and Margaret (Peterson) Crosby. He grew up in Ventura and attended Will Rogers Elementary and Cabrillo Junior High. As a child, Pete wanted to be the next Elvis Presley, but soon realized singing was not his vocation because he couldn’t carry a tune.
He was a stamp and coin collector, liked collecting baseball cards (he was a life-long Brooklyn and Los Angeles Dodger fan) and assembled model airplanes and warships.
At Ventura High School, his favorite classes were math and science. Pete was active in science fairs, varsity football, community service and scholarship organizations. He graduated in the top five of 450 students and spoke at commencement.
Pete attended UC Berkeley as an Alumni Scholar, majoring in industrial engineering and operations research. Despite his demanding studies, Pete joined Phi Gamma Delta fraternity and played several intramural sports: boxing, football, baseball and badminton. He was also a member of Cal’s rugby team.
To help pay for his school tuition he bought and sold rare coins and stamps and worked during the summer (as a computer operator at Lockheed Missile Company at Pt. Mugu). He earned his bachelor’s degree in 1967.
Pete remained a diehard Cal Golden Bears fan, hoping each year that he’d get to see Cal play in the Rose Bowl.
He attended Stanford for his graduate studies, where he received a master’s degree in operations research and an engineering degree in management science. His education was funded by Ford Motor through the Honors Cooperative Program.
After college, Pete stayed in the Bay Area for 13 years, working for Philco Ford, FMC and A.T. Kearney. At Philco, he worked on satellite and missile tracking contracts for the U.S. Airforce and the Navy.
He married his first wife Stephanie “Stevie” Ellis in 1969 and they moved to Pacific Palisades in 1976. He became a manager with Coopers and Lybrand, one of the big eight CPA firms.
Pete founded his own consulting business in 1984, CGR Management
Consultants, which specialized in supply chain management and information technology.
He also founded two trade organizations: The Food Consultants Group and the Supply Chain Management Consultants Group.
He was a supporter of the Palisades Malibu YMCA and worked as a swim meet announcer for his kids Kelly and Michael.
Stevie passed away in 2007, and in 2010, Pete married Janet Davis. Over the next decade, the two traveled extensively and were known for their Fourth of July parties.
After retiring, Pete served on the boards of the Y and the Rotary Club. Card games were a favorite pastime, and he was a member of two local poker groups, deriving great excitement from the occasional five-dollar win.
Pete was beloved by business associates and friends, because of the bad jokes he loved to tell, worse limericks, and his knack for joyfully singing off-key rock’n’roll. He was one of the rare people who kept his friends throughout his life, including from elementary and high school, his fraternity brothers from Cal, and his fellow Lair of the Bear campers.
Pete is survived by his second wife, Janet Davis, daughter Kelly Red (Phil), son
Michael Crosby (Luis), grandson Eli Red, granddaughter Sky Clavijo-Crosby, three first cousins and stepchildren Christine Rahn (Chris), Elizabeth Davis (Matt) and Michael Davis (Kenna) and step grandchildren Kate and Cassidy Rahn, Ava, Grayson and Kaia Davis.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. at the Parish of St. Matthew, 1031 Bienveneda Ave., on Saturday, May 11.
In lieu of flowers donations may be in Pete’s name to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, care of Rector Bruce Freeman, or to the American Breast Cancer Society.