Joseph McCrane Jr., 79; Helped Create Meadowlands in N.J.
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Joseph M. McCrane Jr., 79, a former state treasurer of New Jersey who was instrumental in creating the Meadowlands sports complex, died of a heart attack Sept. 28 in Napa, Calif.
In 1970, McCrane pushed for the formation of the state agency that ultimately built the Meadowlands on a swampland in East Rutherford, N.J. He also began efforts to persuade the Mara family, which owns the New York Giants football team, to leave Yankee Stadium and move to the Meadowlands. The stadium opened in 1976, and the Giants moved their home games there that same year. The New York Jets followed in 1984.
McCrane was born in Clifton, N.J., and served in the Marine Corps in the South Pacific during World War II. After the war, he played football at the U.S. Military Academy.
He stayed in the Army after graduation and then joined the reserves, where he eventually rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
After leaving state government, he worked as vice president of a firm that sold bulletproof limousines to foreign dignitaries.
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