It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of PGA Life Member Craig Dear; he was 76. Craig is survived by daughter Meredith Leigh Dear Riedel, son Barry Wayne Dear, PGA, and son José Bento Ntenvo.

He was a 1963 graduate of  Highland High School in Albuquerque, N.M., and University of Texas at El Paso in 1966 where he majored in physics and was a member of the varsity golf team. There he met and married Julie Ann Elkins. After a year in Socorro, N.M., on the faculty of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, they moved to Orlando FL where he worked at Winter Park Pines Golf Club and qualified for the PGA Tour. He won four tour events in four years and retired at 28, accepting a position at a private club in Sapphire Valley, N.C. He was named director of golf at Beckett NJ and moved to Woodbury in 1979. Eventually he leased two golf clubs in South Jersey – Blackwood and Pinecrest – and for years conducted leasing and management seminars at the annual PGA Show in Orlando.

A celebration of life memorial service will be held at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 24, 2022, with visitation from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m., at Budd Funeral Home, 522 Salem Avenue, Woodbury NJ 08096. In lieu of flowers, please send donations in his name to Special Olympics, Blind Golfers Association, Disabled Veterans of America, or the National Rifle Association.

To read Craig’s full obituary, click here.

About the Philadelphia PGA Section
The Philadelphia PGA Section, covering eastern Pennsylvania, southern New Jersey and Delaware, is one of 41 geographical managing entities of the PGA of America. This Section manages nearly 900 PGA Members and Associates who are employed at over 590 golf facilities in our region.