DOVER - John Alexander Croft Jr., who rose through the ranks during a 35-year career with Columbia Gas System Service Corporation from junior engineer to director of corporate services before retiring in 1985, died Monday, March 14, in Dover, Del., following a brief illness. He was 87. The son of John Alexander and Edith Jones Croft-immigrants from Northern Ireland who were married on Ellis Island before beginning their new life together in America-Croft grew up in Pittsburgh, Pa., and graduated from Homestead High School in 1941. He went to work in the engineering department of the U.S. Steel plant in Homestead before being called up to the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. He served from 1943 to 1946, and was stationed in Europe. Following the war, Croft attended Washington and Jefferson College and Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University) under the G.I. Bill, where he was active in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity. The year 1950 proved to be a momentous one for Croft: He earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from Carnegie in June, went to work for Columbia Gas in Columbus, Ohio, and, in August, married Marjorie Isbell, a former dietician for the F.W. Woolworth company in Raleigh, N.C. Shortly after starting work at Columbia, Croft was promoted to distribution engineer for Ohio Fuel Gas Company at Zanesville and Columbus, and in 1959, he was promoted to supervisory engineer for the operations and planning department of Columbia Gas in their New York office. He moved to the new Columbia Gas headquarters in Montchanin in 1970, and became director of general services in 1973, and director of corporate services in 1976. He was responsible for Columbia's Telecommunications Department, Air Transportation Department and the Wilmington building office, maintenance, stenographic, duplication and files services. He and his wife retired to Myrtle Beach, S.C. in 1985, and returned to Delaware in 1994, settling in Westminster Village in Dover to be near family. Until his health precluded it, Croft was an avid golfer who loved to travel and read, especially the mysteries of the late Robert B. Parker. Just as his immigrant father had passed along his love for his newly adopted sport of baseball to his son, Croft shared his love of the national pastime with his two sons. Croft is survived by his wife of 60 years, Marjorie; sons Douglas S., and his wife, Gail, and John A. III and his wife, Cathy; and granddaughters, Bernadette E. and Amelia C. Croft. He is predeceased by his only sister, Ilene Spryer. Following a private burial, a memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in the West Room of Westminster Village, 191 Westminster Road, Dover. Memorial contributions may be made to Westminster Village, 1175 McKee Road, Dover, DE 19904.