CRISS, NICK, Nick Criss was born in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1945 and grew up there. He attended Princeton University, graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1967. He joined the Navy at the height of the Vietnam War and volunteered for flight training. He was selected to fly the F4 Phantom and made two tours to Vietnam, flying over 278 combat flights, including the air battles over Hanoi and Haiphong in 1972. Following the war, he remained on active duty, transi-tioning to the F14 Tomcat. Following F 14 tours in VF21 I and 124, he was selected to command the Pacific Fleet Adversary Squadron that flew aircraft that simulated Soviet fighters and tactics in training dogfights against Navy fighter crews and Topgun students. His fmal tour in the Navy was as Air Boss on the USS Ranger. He retired in 1988. Following his retirement from the Navy, he chose a very non traditional path. He joined the Burnham Company in the Commercial Real Estate field. He immediately identified an opportunity in the fast developing Maquiladora industrial market in Mexico. He established Burnham de Mexico as the first US brokerage firm in the nation to represent industrial tenants in Mexico. He eventually started Mexican operations for the Staubach Company in Mexico City and, finally served as EVP of Cushman & Wakefield Mexico until his death. However, Nick was most remembered as a consummate story teller. His limitless supply of sea stories could keep his comrades spellbound for hours and kept alive the traditions he revered. He could find humor even in the grimmest of situations and faced his illness in the same way. His motto was that truth should never stand in the way of a good story, but his life was a good story that just happened to be true. Cdr. Criss is survived by his wife, Cheryl and his son Nick and by his mother, Louise and his sister, Sally Allan. For funeral service information contact the family. to send flowers call 1877894.0431 use family code 51197 Clairemontmortuary.com
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