Shelter Island Reporter Profile —Tom Cronin
Editor’s note: The following profile of Tom Cronin is being published now, ahead of the November election, because Mr. Cronin is the Republican candidate for Town Board and has not been the subject of a Reporter profile. A profile of the Democratic candidate, Gordon Gooding, appeared in July 2023, and a profile of the unaffiliated candidate, Lisa Shaw appeared in January 2023.
One of the many interesting things you see when you pull into Tom Cronin’s Willow Lane property is a large industrial-style structure he refers to as “The Barn.”
“I love my barn. It’s the best thing I ever built,” he said, during a tour of his orderly collection of power tools, small crafts, bicycles, lumber, gas station kitsch and a hydraulic lift supporting a Dodge Ram he’s working on. It’s also a mancave where he hangs out with friends. “My buddies come and go. There’s pretty much nothing we can’t fix in that barn.”
A nearly lifelong resident of Shelter Island, Mr. Cronin is retired from the Shelter Island Police Department, where he served from 1995 until 2018, and is running for a seat on the Town Board in November’s election.
Born in Flushing, Queens, Mr. Cronin was the last of seven children of Howard and Mary Cronin. Howard Cronin retired from the New York Police Department as a police officer, and the family moved to Grand Avenue in the Heights in 1970, after which he was chief of police here for four years and then Town Justice until his death in 1998.
Meanwhile, Tom Cronin and his siblings were making their way through the Shelter Island School, and when Mr. Cronin was ready to graduate with the Class of ’88 he and a buddy hatched a plan to go to Laramie, Wyoming for a year, where Mr. Cronin planned to get an associate’s degree in applied science and business management at Wyoming Technical Institute.
“At the last minute he couldn’t go, and I ended up going by myself,” Mr. Cronin recalled. “Times are different. I won’t even let my son drive off-Island. My parents put me in a car, said goodbye, and I drove for 32 hours.”
A year later, he was back on Shelter Island with a mechanics degree and rekindled a friendship with Susan Kotula. They met riding the school bus after she moved to Shelter Island in 4th grade, but were just friends until they both ended up back in town after college.
“I always tell her that I had to fight eight years before I could get my first kiss,” he said. They married in 1998.
Mr. Cronin worked as a mechanic for a few years until his father convinced him to take the police test.
“My father, my brothers and my sisters all were police officers. I think the only thing that surprised me a little bit about policing on Shelter Island is that actual policing is very little, but the act of helping people was great. The volume of what we did to help people is much more than arrests. Sometimes you’re there for someone’s absolute worst day ever, and you have to figure out how you’re going to help.”
Tom and Susan have five children. The oldest, Dillon, lives on the west coast of Florida and sells insurance. He and his wife are expecting their first child, and the Cronins’ first grandchild, in November.
Their second child Pacey is in his sophomore year at Texas A&M. “He’s a Marine. He wants to be a pilot,” Mr. Cronin said. Nathan, 17, is still deciding where to apply to college, and is thinking of studying archeology; 15-year-old Makayla wants to be a vet; and Bella, their youngest, is 10.
“This house is well-used,” Mr. Cronin said, and although their home is spotless and well organized, the allure of The Barn started to make a lot of sense.
His time as policeman was good and bad, he said. “A little bit of both. Very rewarding because I was able to help people I know, but also the other side of it was arresting people I know. A great group of guys to work with, and girls, and I don’t regret a thing about it. My father was the one who made me become a cop. Do I want to go back and do it now? No. The temperament of society has changed. Police are not as respected as they used to be.”
In 2013, Mr. Cronin got involved with Honor Flights, an organization that arranges for veterans of World War II, Vietnam, Korea and subsequent wars to travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the War Memorials. When he realized that Shelter Island’s veterans would need support for airfare, he organized the community to make it happen.
“I used Facebook and the newspaper, and checks came piling in. We made enough money to do the trip.”
He invited any Shelter Island veterans including those from WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Beirut to join him and his then 9-year-old son on a one-day trip to Washington with a special South Ferry boat at 4:30 in the morning, motorcycle escort to the airport, airline tickets, an honor brigade at the airport in D.C., and tours of all the war memorials.
“They were treated like superstars” Mr. Cronin remembers. “Shelter Island is very generous.”
In 2019 he and Toby Green traveled down the East Coast by Jet Ski to raise money for people with scleroderma, a condition that has affected one of Mr. Cronin’s young relatives. Both men made it down to Key West, but abrasions and infections prevented Mr. Green from coming back by Jet Ski. “I came home in six days on my own,” Mr. Cronin said, “and we raised $37,000 for scleroderma.”
In January 2023, Mr. Cronin spoke out against a controversial exercise conducted at the Shelter Island School, designed to increase empathy among students, that left some of them upset and embarrassed. The empathy-building activity was scrapped, the superintendent apologized, and Mr. Cronin was approached by the Shelter Island Republican Committee about running for office.
He declined, but the idea stuck with him. He began to research and follow the issues facing local government more carefully. “I had no interest in politics, yet as I looked into it, I thought I could help.”
Two current issues have engaged his interest. “I’m not sure that now is the time to mandate the I/A septic systems,” he said.” And what I call the anti-dock law. If your dock is destroyed by more than 30%, then you can’t replace your dock. I think it’s a horrible attack on the property owner. If I win, great, if I don’t, I’ll just keep smiling.”
Mr. Cronin is back serving in the Shelter Island Fire Department after a hiatus that began when he was a police officer. “I was a 22-year veteran member, and I got out because there was a little bit of conflict with the Police and the Fire departments. Having to do your job as a cop and with fire, there may be issues.”
He recalls a night after he retired as a policeman, when he heard the fire alarm go off three times. “The chief told me, ‘We have nobody.’ So I put my hat back into the ring and I’m back full-bore with the Fire Department. I’m really enjoying it a lot.”
He feels strongly that an all-volunteer department can work for Shelter Island, and he sees a way to do it. “The volunteerism within the person, you’re not going to take that away. We are in desperate need of firemen, it’s a lot of commitment, a lot of work,” he said. “We don’t need to hire people. I don’t think so. Not yet. I think there is a whole group of people who are not being touched, and that’s the Latino community. We’re not inviting them, and they are not being welcomed. We just have to figure out the connection. Maybe if I get elected it’s something I’ll work on.”
He accepts the inevitable changes that have come to Shelter Island since he first came here as a child. “The number of houses … I would love to have it back to the way it was when I was a kid. I like the idea of a sliding scale for house size, so if you own a decent-size property, you can build a bigger house.”
He sees much more polarization, and more politics in school. “When I was in school, I never knew my teacher’s political background or who they voted for,” he said.
Shelter Island is home, “the norm,” he said. “This is really all I’ve known. When the time comes, I would like to retire somewhere else, but the time has not
come.”
LIGHTNING ROUND —TOM CRONIN
Favorite place on Shelter Island? Wards Point. Amazing views and incredible history. Owned by Artemas Ward. He imported people to do all the work.
Favorite place not on Shelter Island? Glacier National Park.
When was the last time you were elated? When my son told me they were having a baby girl.
What exasperates you? Politics. I don’t get it. I just don’t get the hatred, the division. I don’t see why we have to fight.
When was the last time you were afraid? Some small medical issues with my kids, all passed, but in that moment I was worried.
Favorite sports/teams? Basketball, but since my son goes to Texas A&M, we watch football.
What is the best day of the year on Shelter Island? Memorial Day. My father was a World War II veteran.
Favorite movie or book? Brigadoon. It’s very corny, but I love it. My father used to watch it with me.
Favorite food? Lobster
Most respected elected official? Ronald Reagan, good character, good ideas and he wasn’t a drip.
