杏吧原创

鈥淗e led a life of service to others,鈥� says Bea Cronin, Dan Cronin鈥檚 widow. While serving in the Navy in 1966, Dan suffered a severe injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down. 鈥淒an lived a good portion of his life in a wheelchair,鈥� says his good friend Mary Alice Rocks Ruggiero, 鈥淏ut I never ceased to be amazed by how well he got around — in snow, in every kind of weather and in every sort of neighborhood — nothing held him back.鈥� In 1980 Dan enrolled at Ramapo College, received a degree in 1984 and continued his education at Seton Hall University where he earned a degree in law.

Dan then began a selfless career in poverty and family law serving as an attorney for Bergen County Legal Services. Among the many honors he received were the New Jersey Certificate of Appreciation for Meritorious Public Service for his work as a member of the Supreme Court鈥檚 District Ethics Committee, a Certificate of Appreciation from Shelter Our Sisters, a home for victims of domestic violence and the Outstanding Attorney of the Year award from Legal Services of New Jersey. 鈥淚t was impossible to venture anywhere within a 15-mile radius of Hackensack with Dan and not run into someone he knew,鈥� says Ms. Ruggiero. 鈥淪omeone he had helped along the way would spot him and make a point of coming up to us for an exchange.鈥�

Upon Dan鈥檚 death in December 2004, Bea Cronin, together with friends and family, created this scholarship fund to honor his life and recognize the next generation of young people devoted to the service of others. The Cronins met at Ramapo College, where Dan was an active member of the Alumni Association Board and Bea served as director of Human Resources until her retirement in 2010.

This scholarship helps advance many of Dan鈥檚 ideals, epitomized through his last words to his niece Barbara Ann Wendt: 鈥淚t is what you do that makes you special.鈥� Continues Robin Reilly of the F.A.I.T.H. Foundation, 鈥淜nowing Dan was always there for me in my work with the homeless was a great comfort. He never let me down, not once. I don鈥檛 know what we鈥檒l do without him.鈥�

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