J. Craig Huff Jr.

August 2, 1920-October 20 2009

J. Craig Huff Jr. Aged 89, died early on Tuesday morning, October 20, 2009 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was born on August 2, 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where he attended The Episcopal Academy for twelve years before becoming a member of the class of 1942 at Williams College. While at Williams, Huff was a member of the Lambda Chapter of the St. Anthony Hall fraternity.

Following his graduation from Williams, he became a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy and served on an LST in the Mediterranean Theatre in World War II.

After the war he took a position at the Draper Corporation, a manufacturer of power looms for the textile industry. Determined to learn the business from the ground up, Huff started off working in the foundry. Eventually he joined the sales department, and in the mid-1960's, he was named President of Draper where he remained in that position until 1972, when the company was taken over by Rockwell International.

After leaving Draper, Huff became president of Fenn Manufacturing and later served as a consultant for Morgan Construction Company, a manufacturer of steel rolling mill equipment. When he left Morgan, he decided that having spent his career working for large global corporations, he wanted to use his business expertise to run a small company.

In 1979, he formed a partnership with a small group of investors and bought the Hayes Pump and Machinery Company, a distributor of pumps and related equipment. As the president and CEO of Hayes, he used his talents to increase the company's annual revenues from $3-4 million to $30 million. In addition to his responsibilities at Hayes, Huff also served as a director of Pitney Bowes and the investment firm, The Colonial Fund in Boston, Massachusetts.

He was one of the founders of the American Textile History Museum now in Lowell, Massachusetts. Huff was an active member of Williams College Alumni Association and as the chairman of fundraising for his 50th class reunion; he succeeded in raising a new level of giving for his class. In 2007, Huff was honored for the time and resources he had devoted to Williams by receiving the prestigious Joseph's Coat Award. Huff had a passionate interest in American history, beginning with his own family's story of arriving here in 1607 to help establish the first settlement in Jamestown, Virginia. Roots on the maternal side of his family can be traced back to Shepherdstown, West Virginia during the Civil War. As documented in the book "John Snyder: A Soldier and His Family", his great grandmother Rose Snyder Turner recalls seeing "flashes of fire" when she was just a six-year-old girl. It's believed she was witnessing the shelling of Shepherdstown during the retreat of the Confederate soldiers. Other Shepherdstown historical references date back even further. In his book 1776, author David McCullough credits Huff with information he gave him about the "bee-line" march from West Virginia to Bunker Hill during the Revolutionary War. In addition to his love for history and the classics, Huff was also an avid outdoorsman and enjoyed salmon fishing, deer hunting in the Adirondacks and skeet shooting at the Laurel Brook club. As a life-long Red Sox baseball fan, he attended many games in his regular seats between home plate and first-base at Fenway Park, and saw the long awaited Red Sox world series win in 2004.

An only child, Huff is survived by his daughters, Holly Beaty, Deborah Gevalt and Cally Burns, all of Cambridge, his son, J. Craig Huff III of Groton, Massachusetts and his four grandchildren, Alex Burns, Emelie Gevalt, Ben Beaty and Julia Beaty. His wife Ann Millspaugh Huff died earlier this year. They would have celebrated their 67th wedding anniversary on October 22nd.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, October 30, 2009 at Christ Church, Zero Garden Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his memory to the American Textile History Museum, 491 Dutton Street, Lowell, MA, 01854-4289. J.S. Waterman & Sons & Waring Wellesley 781 235-4110.