![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Harry-Bancroft-obit-photo-11-2020.jpg\")
He was born June 11, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Harry Spencer Bancroft and Anna Elizabeth Peterson, who both preceded him in death. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The family moved to Jackson, Michigan, when he was 1 year old and he attended Jackson public schools, graduating from Jackson High School, class of January 1945. He served in the U.S. Army in Korea from 1945-1947. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/American-Flag-for-obituaries-6-2011.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nHe attended Jackson Junior College, graduating in 1949, and finished his degree at Michigan State University, graduating in June 1951 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in mechanical engineering. He later completed the advanced management program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology\u2019s Sloan School of Management in 1980.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry began his 34-year career with Aeroquip Corporation in Jackson, Michigan, as a design engineer in 1951. In 1953, he was transferred to Van Wert to help start a new plant for the Industrial Division of Aeroquip. In 1974, he moved back to Jackson as vice president of U.S. operations for Aeroquip and was later promoted to president of Aeroquip and vice president of parent company Libbey-Owens-Ford Corporation. He retired in October 1985 and he and his wife, Peggy, promptly moved to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, where he enjoyed 35 years of retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry is survived by his loving wife of 68 years, Ann Margaret \u201cPeggy\u201d Dailey; three sons, James of Perrysburg, Patrick (Deborah) of McKinney, Texas, and Mark (Carol) of Sarasota, Florida; two daughters, Ann Lynn of New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and Susan of Tampa, Florida; three grandchildren, Elizabeth of Fishers, Indiana, Eric of College Station, Texas, and Alan of Victoria, British Columbia; a niece, Rita Pfetzing of the Los Angeles, California, area; two nephews, Dr. Van Pfetzing and Scott Pfetzing, both also of the Los Angeles area, a brother-in-law, Jack Dailey of Jackson, Michigan; one sister-in-law, Margaret Dailey of St. Joseph, Michigan; and many Dailey nieces and nephews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was predeceased by a daughter-in-law, Teri J. Bancroft; a brother and sister-in-law, Dale and Jane Bancroft; and one sister and brother-in-law, Edessa and Heinie Pfetzing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry and his family happily enjoyed 60 years of boating and 50 years at their cottage on Lake James, Angola, Indiana. He was a proud alumnus of Michigan State and attended football games for many years, enjoying tailgating with friends and family and watching Spartan basketball. He enjoyed jazz music, especially live performances, and was always working on all kinds of projects at his home and various boats and personal watercraft over the years. He also enjoyed Indy car and NASCAR racing, attending many events at MIS, Indianapolis, and Daytona Beach, and was friends with some of the owners and racing officials while at Aeroquip and in retirement. He and Peggy enjoyed travelling in retirement, completing 38 cruises to various destinations around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was a member of the Halifax Cruise Club of Daytona Beach, Florida, the Elks Club of Angola, Indiana, and Sacred Heart Catholic Church in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. He was a former director of Peoples Bank and All American and Central Mutual Insurance Companies, all in Van Wert. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There will be a Mass of Celebration at 11 a.m. Monday, November 30, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Masks and social distancing are required. A private committal service will occur Tuesday, December 1, at Cape Canaveral National Cemetery. A celebration of life luncheon will be scheduled in 2021 in Jackson, Michigan.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Visitation will be at Baldwin Brothers Funeral Home, 1 North Causeway, New Smyrna Beach, Florida, from 3-5 p.m. Sunday November 29, and an hour prior to funeral services Monday at the church.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The family would like to thank the numerous doctors, nurses, and other caregivers that cared, treated, and encouraged Harry during his illness. We would like to especially thank Beth and Lisa, who came to his home to treat him, as well as the staff at the Halifax Hospice Care center in Edgewater, Florida, for their care and compassion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In lieu of flowers, preferred memorials are to Halifax Hospice Southeast Care Center, 4140 S. Ridgewood Ave., Edgewater, FL 32141, or Michigan State University College of Mechanical Engineering scholarships, University Advancement, 535 Chestnut Road, Room 300, East Lansing, MI 48824. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Harry Allen Bancroft, 93, of Inlet Shores, New Smyrna Beach, Fl, passed away peacefully Tuesday, November 17, 2020, at Halifax Hospice Southeast Volusia Care Center in Edgewater, Florida, after a 3\u00bd-year battle with bone cancer. He was born June 11, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Harry Spencer Bancroft and Anna Elizabeth Peterson, who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-obituaries"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 12:01:43","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137343\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}