Retired Lieut. Col. Carlyle Cronig died on June 22 at the age of 93 of natural causes. He was born in Vineyard Haven in January 1916, the second son of Samuel L. Cronig and Elizabeth Cronig, in an 1810 house at South Main street. Along with his brothers David and Robert and sisters Ann and Ruth, he was raised at the later family homestead at Centre and Pine streets, one block from the old Tisbury School (the present location of the town tennis courts). In 1929, all students in the local school, first grade through twelfth grade, marched to the new Tisbury School at Spring street. He graduated from Harvard College in 1939 with a bachelor’s degree in history.

On Dec. 30, 1940, he enlisted in the Army Air Corps as a cadet. He graduated from the School of Communications at Scott Field, Illinois. His first station was at Westover Field, where he was assigned to the 7th Bomb Squadron, 34th Bomb Group, as a communications cadet. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in October 1941. His commanding officer was Major Curtis Lemay. After Pearl Harbor was bombed on Dec. 7, 1941, the 34th Bomb Group was transferred to the West Coast, where he was promoted to first lieutenant.

In July 1942, a dozen communications officers were assigned to the RAF in England for training as Flying Control officers, on which occasion Lieutenant Cronig was promoted to Captain. Upon return to the United States, he and five other officers trained by the Royal Air Force set up the Air Corps School of Flying Control to train pilots, who were being assigned to England. In June of 1943 he set up and was named Commanding Officer of the military flight control center at Kansas City and was promoted to major. In June of 1945, he was instrumental in setting up the Flight Control Center at Saipan. Before he was discharged from the service in early 1946, he was promoted to Lieut. Colonel. In early 1947, he entered Harvard Law School under the GI training bill but after one semester, realized that he did not wish to spend his life as a lawyer and he returned to the Island which he loved so much.

Upon his return to the Island, he joined Cronig’s Real Estate and succeeded his uncle, Henry Cronig, in the brokerage and development of real estate, until his retirement in 2002. Among the friendships he made over the course of his lifetime, he said that Lillian Hellman, Art Buchwald, John Hersey and Beverly Sills were “among the more interesting.” Over the 50-plus years of his career, the most important focus of his life was the people he helped with advice and, in many instances, financial help, which allowed hundreds of Islanders to own their own homes, open businesses and go on to careers and families of their own.

During his life, Mr. Cronig was, among many other things, a director of the Martha’s Vineyard Cooperative Bank, commander of the Martha’s Vineyard posts of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and of the American Legion. He served for many years on the Tisbury zoning board, the Tisbury planning board and as assessor for the town of Tisbury.

In 1951, he was married to Phyllis Kramer of New Bedford. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2001 at their home on Franklin street in Vineyard Haven surrounded by over 100 guests. They had two sons, Steven, a lawyer in Miami, Fla., and Peter, the present owner of Cronig’s Real Estate in Vineyard Haven.

Carlyle Cronig is survived by his loving wife and sons. Before his death, he requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Vineyard Nursing Association, which had taken such good care of him and his wife during the past two years.