Wilbur Lucius Cross III (August 17, 1918 – March 4, 2019) was an American author with over 50 books to his credit.McKinney, Don
"Latest works by author detail submarines, zeppelins"
''

The Island Packet ''The Island Packet'' is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper owned by Chatham Asset Management, serving primarily the residents of southern Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States, particularly the towns of Hilton Head Island and Bluffton ...

'', Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, South Carolina, volume 33, June 8, 2003, ''Lowcountry'', page 4-D. He spent 10 years as an editor at ''

Life Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...

''. He was the grandson of

Wilbur Lucius Cross Wilbur Lucius Cross (April 10, 1862 – October 5, 1948) was an American literary critic who served as the 71st governor of Connecticut from 1931 to 1939. Biography Born in 1862 in Mansfield, Connecticut, Cross attended Natchaug School in Wil ...

Early life and education

Cross wrote mini books for his friends at an early age.Paprocki, Justin
"A love for Gullah"
''The Island Packet'', Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, South Carolina, volume 42, February 10, 2012, ''LowcountryLife Arts & Culture'', page 1C. He graduated from

Kent School Kent School is a private, co-educational, college preparatory boarding school in Kent, Connecticut, United States. Frederick Herbert Sill established the school in 1906. It is affiliated with the Episcopal Church of the United States. Acade ...

in 1937 and Yale University.Oravec, Joseph
"Cross Authors Weekend Education Book"
''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of News UK, w ...

'', Scranton, Pennsylvania, volume 11, number 15, May 2, 1976, page A-9. Upon graduation from Yale, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and became a captain. He served in the Pacific theater during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

for 39 months with communications, radar and photo units.

Career

After serving in the army, he worked for an ad agency where he was a copy writer. He became a senior editor for

Continental Oil Company Conoco Inc. ( ) was an American oil and gas company that operated from 1875 until 2002, when it merged with Phillips Petroleum to form ConocoPhillips. Founded by Isaac Elder Blake in 1875 as the "Continental Oil and Transportation Company". Curre ...

, where he wrote ''CONOCO, The First One Hundred Years''. As a free-lance writer in the 1950s and 1960s, he interviewed General

Umberto Nobile Umberto Nobile (; 21 January 1885 – 30 July 1978) was an Italian aviator, aeronautical engineer and Arctic explorer. Nobile was a developer and promoter of semi-rigid airships in the years between the two World Wars. He is primarily remembe ...

and survivors of airship

Italia Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the Italy (geographical region) ...

, which crashed in the artic pole in 1928, for an article in ''

True True most commonly refers to truth, the state of being in congruence with fact or reality. True may also refer to: Places * True, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * True, Wisconsin, a town in the United States * ...

'' magazine.Ackerman, Jerry
"'Pole' chronicles 'strange and unreal' Arctic airship disaster"
''

The Knoxville News-Sentinel The ''Knoxville News Sentinel, also known as Knox News,'' is a daily newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, owned by the Gannett Company. History The newspaper was formed in 1926 from the merger of two competing newspapers: ''The K ...

'', Knoxville, Tennessee, issue 37,470, October 22, 2000, page G8. This became the basis for the book, ''Disaster at the Pole''. He died in March 2019 at the age of 100.Wilbur Cross obituary
/ref>

Books

*''Challengers of the Deep'' *''Disaster at the Pole'' *''Encyclopedia of American Submarines'' (2003) *''Gullah Culture in America'' (2012) *''Zeppelins of World War I'' (2003)

References

1918 births 2019 deaths American centenarians American magazine editors American male non-fiction writers Kent School alumni United States Army officers Yale University alumni Men centenarians United States Army personnel of World War II {{US-author-stub