Marcus B. Crotts (MSME ’56) was elected an honorary member of the American Machine Tool Distributors’Association (AMTDA) at its annual meeting in Orlando, FL on April 21, 2010. Honorary member is the highest honor that the association bestows on its membership; there have been only four other members who have received this recognition since the organization was formed in 1925.
Crotts, who is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from North Carolina State University in 1953 and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois in 1956. He is a Senior Advisory Member of the University of Illinois Mechanical Science and Engineering Alumni Board of Directors.
Crotts and his partner, Charles L. Saunders, formed Crotts & Saunders Engineering, Inc. in Winston-Salem in 1956. He is married to the former Margo Jackson of Champaign, IL and they have two children, Van Crotts, who is now president of Crotts & Saunders Engineering, Inc., and Laura Paschall of Grand Rapids, MI.
Crotts served as president of AMTDA in 1981-82 and served as president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers in 2002.
AMTDA was organized in January 1925 in Washington, D. C. and is now located in Rockville, MD.