Joseph A Cronk Jr., transitioned to be with his Lord our Savior on October 29, 2025 following a brief illness.  Joe had recently celebrated his 90th birthday with a multigenerational family party! He was born in Atlanta in 1935 at Piedmont Hospital.  Joe was the son of Abigail and Joe Cronk, Sr of Atlanta and was one of the original "Buckhead Boys." He grew up on Havenridge Drive at a time when kids walked and biked everywhere and where he built his infamous backyard fish pond. He was raised in the Catholic faith and attended Christ the King Church.

Joe attended E. Rivers Elementary School, The Marist School (when it was an all boys downtown school) and Northside High School where he played both offensive and defensive football for the legendary coach, Waymon Creel. During his formative years, Joe loved fishing and playing golf at the Capital City Club in Brookhaven. He graduated from Georgia Tech and remained a loyal Tech fan his whole life. He was a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.  Sadly, Joe lost his beloved mother Abby when he was just 17 years old.

Joe met his future wife, Suzanne Spalding Schroder while she was living at her parent's home (now The Ignatius House) on Riverside Drive during a party in High School. After college graduation, Joe and Suzanne married in 1959 at Christ The King (with The Bishop presiding and the organ failing)! and raised 3 children, Suzanne, Joe and Catherine. He embarked on a successful career as a sales executive with IBM. He later joined the 3M Corporation where for 18 years he held many sales leadership positions, earning numerous awards.

Upon retirement from the corporate world, Joe launched a successful office supply company in Roswell Georgia - Chattahoochee Office Supply.  For 12 years, Joe served his clients and community and was loved by all.  Joe was deeply involved in the Roswell Rotary and never met a stranger. During this time, Joe continued his hobby of building two waterfall ponds stocked with fish in the back yard of their Sandy Springs home!

For their next chapter, Joe and Suzanne built a beautiful home "Easy To Bear" on the top of Sanderlin Mountain in Big Canoe where they lived for 25 years. Joe loved golfing with The Aces, his Tia Chi classes and exercising at the fitness center, mentoring local youth and volunteering at Good Samaritan and traveling the world. He and Suzanne were members of The Big Canoe Chapel.

Joe was known as a master story teller. He knew how to light up the room and was loved by all.

"Papa" is survived by his wife of almost 66 years, Suzanne, his children Suzanne Jeffers of Daniel Island, SC, Joe III (Claire) of St Simon's and Atlanta and Catherine Harper (Mike). He is also survived by his grandchildren Hayley Hamilton (Ryan) of Boston, MA, Mary Liz Harms (Barron) of Atlanta, Abby Jeffers of Charleston, SC, Caroline Edwards (Jack) of Savannah, Austin Harper (Cissy) and Savannah Sather (Evan) along with great grands Amelia, Theo, Bear, Brooks, Lola, Rainier, Henry and August and another on the way in March!

Per his wishes, the family will have a celebration of life at Big Canoe. Cagle Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Joseph Cronk.