Eric Craven

1967 - 2021

Eric Scott Craven
March 4,1967 - April 22, 2021. Eric Scott Craven, 54, died April 21, 2021 peacefully at home in Tampa, FL surrounded by his wife and children, following a 9 year battle with ALS. A Celebration of Life Memorial Service will be held on May 1, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. at South Tampa Fellowship, 5101 Bayshore Blvd., Tampa, FL, and live-streamed at www.stfchurch.com/online. Friends and loved ones are invited to a catered lunch reception at the church immediately following the memorial celebration to visit with the family.
Eric was born in Washington, DC, however, he spent all but the first two years of his childhood in Southern California, including graduating from North High School, Torrance, in 1985, UCLA in Physics, Magna Cum Laude, in 1992, and USC Master's in Engineering Management in 1995 and MBA in 1998. Eric worked at Northrop-Grumman in the Engineering department out of high school and throughout attaining his undergraduate and both masters degrees - working primarily on the B-2 Bomber, F-18 fighter jet and 747 JetLiner. He left California in 1998 living two years in Boca Raton, FL working for then start-up, AutoNation finally settling in the Northeast working for PepsiCo as SVP Compensation and Benefits Worldwide through 2015 while living in New Fairfield, CT; Wilton, CT; and Speculator, NY. An avid sports fan, Eric was so happy this year to have his beloved LA Dodgers win the World Series, his Tampa Bay Lightning win the Stanley Cup and to enjoy seeing live his Tampa Bay Bucs win at the Super Bowl! Thanks to a generous gift from PepsiCo, he was able to reunite with several old friends and family in living out his lifetime dream of visiting all 30 MLB parks for a game and a hotdog, prior to passing. He was an extremely generous man who served on several boards, donated privately impacting many local charities, and enjoyed spending time with many young adults as a career mentor.
Eric met the love of his life, Claire Helene Nicholson, in 1993 at the Torrance OctoberFest and they'd been together ever since, recently celebrating their 26th wedding anniversary. Eric was also so very proud to be survived by his three amazing children: son, 2ndLt David Scott Craven (24), USMC Infantry Officer, 29 Palms, CA; daughter Amanda Elaine Craven (22), First Year Medical School Student at SUNY Upstate, Syracuse, NY; and daughter Elizabeth Grace Craven (22), Technology Risk Consulting, Ernst & Young, Boston, MA. Eric is also survived by his mother Judith Funkhouser of Kingman, AZ, brother Robert Craven (Ernie) and uncle Thomas Wojcik (Carolyn) along with several cousins in AZ, CA, HI and NJ. He was preceded in death by his loving nana, Elaine Wojcik, Trenton, NJ and great-aunt, Grace Delaney, Santa Monica, CA.
In lieu of flowers, Eric asked you make a donation in his memory in support of the excellent care he received by Dr. Merit Cudkowicz and her team at Mass General ALS Clinic in Boston, MA giving.massgeneral.org/Healey EIN: 04-1564655 and/or Dr. Tuan Vu and his team at USF ALS Clinic in Tampa, FL https://usf.to/Craven EIN: 59-0879015 ALS is a horrible disease and we must find a cure, for this amazingly brilliant man, husband, father and friend who was taken from us way too soon.