James Shorten Cross, 97, oil expert

James Shorten Cross, 97, an oil-industry expert who helped lay the groundwork for the country's Strategic Petroleum Reserve during the energy crisis of the 1970s, died Thursday, Sept. 11, of causes related to aging at White Horse Village in Newtown Square.

Dr. Cross lived in Merion starting in 1953, and 10 years later moved to Hunting Hollow Farm in Edgmont. He retired to White Horse Village in 2006.

From 1953 until 1975, Dr. Cross served as chief economist and director of the Economics and Industry Affairs Department for Sun Oil Co.

In 1968, he was appointed director of the Office of Statistical Services in the U.S. Department of the Interior's Emergency Petroleum and Gas Administration.

During the energy crisis from 1972 to 1974, Dr. Cross chaired the National Petroleum Council study on "Emergency Preparedness for Interruption of Petroleum Imports Into the United States."

That effort gave rise to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the country's backup oil supply. From 1975 to 1977, Dr. Cross was vice president of policy development at the American Petroleum Institute. And from 1982 to 1983, he directed research at the U.S. Synthetic Fuels Corp. on behalf of the administration of President Ronald Reagan.

Born in Scranton, Dr. Cross earned a bachelor's degree in 1938 and a master's degree in 1940, both in economics, from Pennsylvania State University.

Dr. Cross did postgraduate study at Ohio State University in 1940. While working as a graduate assistant there, he met Dorothy Davis.

His education and friendship with Davis were interrupted by World War II. He served as a Navy lieutenant, junior grade, aboard the Reno in the South Pacific. Upon his discharge in 1946, he was decorated with the Philippines Medal with one star, and the American Theatre, Asiatic-Pacific Medal with four stars.

In 1945, Dr. Cross married Davis, who had served in the Navy WAVES. Over the next eight years, he completed his doctoral dissertation, taught economics at both Pennsylvania State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, became a leading authority in petroleum economics, and fathered four children. He coauthored a textbook on industrial marketing in 1961.

In Merion, two more Cross children were born. When the family moved to Hunting Hollow Farm, Dr. Cross enjoyed raising horses, cattle, chickens, and honeybees. He also kept a vineyard and produced award-winning wine. He enjoyed vacations at a second farm in central New Hampshire.

Dr. Cross rarely let life upset him. "He was a really humble man; you would never know by talking to him that he was involved in so many important things," said his granddaughter Paige Cross.

His wife died in 2009. He is survived by sons James and Peter; daughters Chrystine, Cynthia Bennett, Marcia Dann, and Kathy Brown; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20, at White Horse Village, 535 Gradyville Rd., Newtown Square. Interment will be private.

Donations may be made to Doctors Without Borders via www.doctorswithoutborders.org/.