A retired  Navy rear admiral from Newtown Square with a 40-year career in active and reserve service died Jan. 25 at 94, writes Gary Miles for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

John W. Cronin Jr., was also a longtime insurance company general agent.

His colleagues, friends and family call Mr. Cronin a “natural leader.” He joined the Navy at 17, serving in active duty during World War II and the Korean War, before spending 35 years in the Naval Reserves.

He retired in 1983 as commander of the Naval Reserve Intelligence Program.

President Ronald Reagan recognized his long service.

“He didn’t talk a lot, but when he entered a room, people took notice,” said Mr. Cronin’s son Bill. “People respected him.”

He was born Christmas Day 1926 in East Orange, N.J. and moved to Miami in 1933. He joined the Navy after high school.

He was a gunnery and torpedo officer on a destroyer in the North Atlantic in World War II.

 He met his wife after the war and returned to active duty in the Korean War from 1951-53.

After the war, he became an agent with the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co.

Read more about John W. Cronin Jr. at The Philadelphia Inquirer.