Obituary of Malcolm Cross

Malcolm A. Cross Mr. Cross, 91, died June 17, 2010 at his home at the Cypress of Charlotte. Son of the late Harold Livingston and Elaine Foster Cross of Maplewood, NJ, he was born September 23, 1918. He attended schools in Maplewood and graduated from Columbia High School in 1936. In 1940 he graduated from the Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College. At Dartmouth, Mac played on the ice hockey team and was a member of Theta Delta Chi fraternity and Casque and Gauntlet senior society. On May 17, 1941 he married Marilyn Cross, also of Maplewood. She died on October 7, 2007, almost a year and a half after they celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. In 1979 he retired from Dan River Inc., a major textile company he joined in 1949. He was vice president of public and industrial relations and president of the Dan River Foundation. During his tenure with Dan River he was located first in Danville, VA and in 1968, was transferred to new corporate headquarters established in Greenville, SC. Following his retirement Mac was author of Dan River Runs Deep, a history of the company focused on the years he worked with Dan River and published in 1982 in connection with the company?s 100th anniversary celebrated that year. He was also the author of a personal memoir, The Story of a Mostly Happy Life, self published in 1998. In 1985, Mac and his wife Marilyn moved to DeBordieu Colony in Georgetown, SC. He was a founder, board member and president of the DeBordieu Property Owners? Association and helped organize and served as director of the Waccamaw Neck Property Owners? Association. He was a member of the Georgetown Presbyterian Church and the Debordieu Golf Club. Mac and Marilyn moved to the Cypress of Charlotte retirement community in 1999. He was a member of the Avondale Presbyterian Church here. During their DeBordieu years, Mac and Marilyn regularly indulged their passion for traveling and he wrote journals describing their adventures in Africa, China, Australia, New Zealand and various countries in Europe and the Near East. He was an avid reader who also enjoyed writing and an enthusiastic golfer who never came close to mastering the game. Mac is survived by three children; Rev. Martha Cross Sexton, La Jolla, CA; Malcolm, Jr., Tigard, OR; and David W., Greenville, SC.; seven grand children and six great grand children. A daughter, Sarah Cross Williams, died in 1988 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The Cross family especially wants to recognize Frances Marion, a Charlotte native and also a resident at the Cypress, who became Mac?s good friend after Marilyn?s passing. She met and was liked by all of us, visited us in our homes East and West and in effect became a part of our family in addition to her own large family. We cannot measure how much happiness and joy she contributed to Mac in those few remaining years of a long and very happy life. The memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Monday, June 21, 2010 at Avondale Presbyterian Church, 2821 Park Rd. Charlotte, NC 28209. At 4:00 PM the same day there will be a reception at the Cypress of Charlotte, 3442 Cypress Club Drive, Charlotte, NC 28210, to celebrate his long and happy life. Inurnment will take place at a later date in the Columbarium of the Georgetown (SC) Presbyterian Church. In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to the Avondale Presbyterian Church, 2821 Park Road, Charlotte, NC 28209 or the Georgetown Presbyterian Church, 558 Black River Road, Georgetown, SC 29440.