Roger Pelton Craig

1940 - 2010

Roger Craig died on May 25 after an 18-month struggle with lung cancer that had metastasized to the liver.
Born on New Year's Eve 1940, Roger was the second of three sons of Edgar Henry and Elizabeth Pelton Craig, in Evanston, Illinois. He graduated from Yale University in 1962 and from Harvard Law School in 1965.
Roger and his wife, Ann, moved to La Jolla in 2000 to the home of his maternal grandparents, purchased in 1936 by Roger and Jennie Jewell Pelton. The house, designed by Thomas Shepherd, was featured as the Designer Showcase House for the San Diego Historical Society in May 2000.
Over the last 10 years, Roger was heavily involved in the community, serving as President of the La Jolla Historical Society in 2007 and 2008. Soon after arriving in La Jolla, he was elected to the vestry of St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church. He also was program coordinator and then president of the Twelve Thirty Club of the La Jolla Country Club.
Prior to moving across the country, the Craigs lived in Washington, DC, for 35 years. There, Roger worked for the US Post Office, including serving as Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Postmaster General.
Roger met his wife-to-be, Ann Blackford Rea, on board the RMS Mauretania, both en route to a study abroad program in France for their junior year. They married two years later in Ann's home town of Marion, Ohio, in 1962.
Roger and Ann returned frequently to France with their children, Richard Alan and Elizabeth Blackford, and with close friends from St. Mark's Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Since coming to La Jolla, new friends have joined the biannual French experience over gourmet meals, Bordeaux wine, and lively conversation.
Ann and Roger's marriage is the best example of what Roger liked to call, "life before death." For all that life, Roger remained immensely grateful until the end.
In addition to his wife and two children, Roger is survived by four grandchildren.
Donations may be made to the La Jolla Historical Society, P.O. Box 2085, La Jolla, CA 92038; St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, 743 Prospect St., La Jolla, CA 92037; or the National Lung Cancer Partnership, Nationallungcancer partnership.org, click on Donate.