ERIC CROKER 3.11.1923 - 18.12.2014

Eric had a long and distinguished career in chess administration.  By career he was a civil servant in the Dept of Education and Science. He brought his quiet, methodical ways to chess administration. He decided to retire from arbiting in his early 70s, ‘… before I make a fool of myself’. He was therefore listed as a Senior Arbiter (retired).
He had a considerable chess library, not just of books but also press cuttings, stored methodically. They went to the National Chess Library some years before his death.
Eric Croker, SCCU President from 1979 to 1980 and again from 1987 to 1989, died aged 91 on 18th December after a long illness.

 Eric also served a term as President of Middlesex CA. He was widely respected for decades as a mainstay of English chess administration, culminating in receipt of the BCF President's Award in 1991 toward the end of his active years. He was perhaps best known as a BCF senior arbiter, a role in which he was reputedly unflappable, officiating regularly at the British Championships, Guernsey Festival, Chess Magazine Festival and elsewhere. He spent a period as Chairman of the Chess Arbiters Association, and became an International Arbiter in 1989. 

Eric also found time to play chess. He was very active at a respectable standard in the Civil Service League.