It’s with a heavy heart that Cross reports the passing of our founder, Bill Cross. Bill was 102 years old and passed peacefully in his sleep on August 24, 2022.

From exemplifying our cultural cornerstones to creating the path to employee ownership, Bill’s mark will forever be on the company he founded. His ideas about how a company could (and should) be run with integrity and with a focus on its employees are still practiced at Cross. Without Bill’s vision, Cross Company wouldn’t be what it is today. Which is something that we’ll all always be grateful to him for.

Throughout his life, Bill Cross was many things. An incredibly talented engineer, a forward-thinking business leader, a consummate gentleman, and most importantly, a servant leader.

The goal of a servant leader isn’t power, but service. It is a style of leadership where the leader’s main objective is to provide a service, not execute control. This philosophy of leadership continues to be practiced throughout Cross thanks to Bill’s example. He set the example for the Cultural Cornerstones that have come to embody Cross Company. Through his concern for the well-being of all Cross employees above his own, he came to define the servant leadership culture still practiced today.

It was Bill’s foresight and leadership that not only founded Cross Company in 1954, but also that lead to the creation of our ESOP in 1979. As a forward-thinking servant leader, Bill felt he needed to do what was right not just for the business, but also for the people who make the business possible. And all of our employee owners today have him to thank for that.

Bill Cross leaves behind an incredible legacy and will be missed by everyone who knew him. We can truly say that he lived a full and wonderful life. We ask that you keep his son, Pete Cross, and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

If you want to learn more about our founder and his beliefs on running an employee-owned and focused business, we’re attaching an interview with Bill Cross and his son Pete.