Bob Croy had pluck, an appropriate asset in the chicken business. He was determined to go just about anywhere in the world to make a sale of baby chicks and poultry equipment.
In the 1970s he became a sales representative for Tatum Farms International of Dawsonville. It was a job with global reach.
“Dad would go on trips of three and four months to Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia,” said his son, Ken Croy of Marietta. “As much as he loved to travel to exotic places,” he said, “the experience was bittersweet for him because of the long separations from his family.”
Croy would recommend appropriate breeds of chicks to prospective buyers depending on factors such as climate – for instance, Philippine humidity or Egyptian aridity. His son said he once persuaded a Saudi prince to build chicken houses underground to keep them from overheating. Croy’s customers invariably told him they thought the chickens he sold would help remedy their countrymen’s protein deficiencies.
“Dad wasn’t just selling chicks and poultry farm equipment; he was selling know-how,” his son added.
Croy entered the poultry business as a partner in To Lani Farm in south DeKalb County, which bred and sold baby chicks. His son said Croy made a hit with his customers by delivering the chicks to them personally by air. “Once Dad brought the chicks practically to their doorstep by landing his Cessna on their property, he always had their business afterward,” his son said.
Robert Radford Croy, 89, of Hull, Ga., died July 21 at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens of complications following a stroke. He had intended to host a party to mark his 90th birthday anniversary today at a cabin near Amicalola Falls in North Georgia. Instead, his family will hold a wake there today in his honor. His memorial service will take place at 11 a.m. tomorrow at St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Dunwoody. Burial will follow at Floral Hills Memorial Gardens. Evans Funeral Home in Jefferson is in charge of arrangements.
During World War II, Croy trained as a bombardier. He finished second in his class at bombing school, his son said, and was assigned to Maxwell Air Force Base outside Montgomery, Ala., where he prepared bombardier candidates for B-17 Flying Fortress missions over Nazi-held parts of Europe. During the Korean War, Croy was called back into service and trained bombardiers at March Air Force Base near Riverside, Calif., for B-29 Superfortress raids on North Korean and Communist Chinese forces.
Between the two wars Croy, an Ohio native, attended Ohio State University and studied poultry science in its school of agriculture. He also met his wife-to-be, Joyce Price, in 1948 while installing an air conditioner at a doctor’s office in Fort Wayne, Ind., where she worked as a nurse. They were married for 65 years, until her death a year ago.
For many years he and his wife resided in the Northlake area. His favorite pastimes were flying light planes, getting behind the wheel of his 1969 Porsche or his Lake Lanier runabout, and competing at tennis into his 80s.
Besides his son Ken, Croy is also survived by a daughter, Joan Grant of Hull; another son, Jon Croy of Elon, N.C.; a sister, Ann Alban of Fort Wayne; a brother, Otis Croy of Chicago, and four grandchildren.
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