In Memoriam … Joseph D. Croft Jr., MD

Dr. Joe Croft

We recently learned the sad news that Joseph D. Croft Jr., MD (88), a past president of the ACR and a well-respected member of the rheumatology community passed away Sept. 27 at home in Bethesda, Md., with his entire family by him.

Born on April 14, 1936, in Evanston, Ill., he graduated from Evanston Township High School before attending Princeton University in New Jersey, where he graduated cum laude.

Dr. Croft received his medical degree from Cornell University, New York, and he completed his internship and residency at Strong Memorial Hospital, Rochester, N.Y., where he was chief resident in medicine and a fellow in rheumatology. He then spent two years as a clinical associate in the dermatology branch of the National Cancer Institute. He began practicing rheumatology in Chevy Chase, Md., in 1969. In 2004, Dr. Croft was a clinical professor of medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine prior to joining Arthritis and Rheumatism Associates P.C. (ARA). Following his retirement in 2007, he volunteered at the Mercy Clinic, and he continued to participate regularly in teaching activities at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Dr. Croft’s family and his commitments to patient care, education and research, as well as to the ACR, were central components of his life, according to his son. In 1990, he was honored by the ACR with the Paulding Phelps award for outstanding service. He served as the president of the ACR from 1999–2000. And in 2014, Dr. Croft received the ACR Presidential Gold Medal, the highest award that the ACR can bestow, in recognition of his outstanding achievements in rheumatology over his career.

Dr. Croft also received teaching awards from Georgetown University Medical Center and the American College of Physicians, as well as a Distinguished Alumni Award from Evanston Township High School (2011).

He was a past president of the Rheumatism Society of the District of Columbia and served on committees for the Medical Society of the District of Columbia, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, the Arthritis Foundation and the Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Dr. Croft is survived by his wife of 64 years, his high school sweetheart, Jane Grubb Croft; his son, Joseph D. Croft III of Charleston, S.C., and his wife, Rebecca; his daughter, Julia E. Croft of Bethesda, Md.; four grandchildren, Nicole E. Croft, Spencer E. Croft, Campbell H. Peterson, Peyton C.  Peterson; and his sister, Mary Anne Osborne of Dedham, Mass.