Edwin Monroe Cronk (May 20, 1918 – September 1, 2020) was an American diplomat who served as the third

United States Ambassador to Singapore The United States ambassador to Singapore is the official representative of the United States of America to the Republic of Singapore. Pending confirmation by the United States Senate, the designated ambassador of the Embassy of the United Sta ...

from 1972 to 1975.

Biography

Cronk was born in

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota, to William F. Cronk and Edith Hanson, where he grew up and graduated from Central High School. He was a Troop #33

Eagle Scout Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Scouts BSA program of Scouting America. Since its inception in 1911, only four percent of Scouts have earned this rank after a lengthy review process. The Eagle Scout rank has been earned by over ...

and attended

Deep Springs College Deep Springs College (known simply as Deep Springs or DS) is a private junior college in Deep Springs, California. With the number of undergraduates restricted to 26, the college is one of the smallest institutions of higher education in the U ...

(class of 1936) and then

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

(class of 1941). Cronk married Dorothy Montgomery in 1943. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the Air Force from 1942 to 1946 in the

Pacific Theater The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

. As part of the rebuilding of Japan after the War, he became Chief of the Japanese Financial Trade from 1951 to 1956 and was subsequently recruited into the

Foreign Service Foreign Service may refer to: * Diplomatic service, the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country * United States Foreign Service, the diplomatic service of the United States government **Foreign Service ...

. His tours of duty in the Foreign Service included Korea, Germany, and Australia, with a final assignment as Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore from 1972 to 1975. After his retirement from government service, Cronk accepted the position of Dean and Director of

, his alma mater, where he served from 1976 to 1980 after which he served as a trustee of the college and was chairman of the board for 3 years. He died in September 2020 at the age of 102.Edwin Cronk obituary
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References

External links

1918 births 2020 deaths Military personnel from Minneapolis Ambassadors of the United States to Singapore American men centenarians Cornell University alumni Deep Springs College alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II {{US-diplomat-stub