James Edwin Crockett, a retired civil engineer and founder of Crockett Associates P.A., died from complications of a stroke Dec. 30 at Gilchrist Hospice Care. He was 87.

Mr. Crockett, the son of a grain salesman and a homemaker, was born in Hagerstown and raised there and in University Park.

He began his college studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, and after two years, dropped out to work at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics while attending night school at George Washington University.

He was attending the University of Maryland at the time he was drafted into the Army in 1942. After graduating from the Army's Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Va., he was sent to France as a combat engineer.

He was discharged from the Army with the rank of lieutenant in 1946 and returned to the University of Maryland, where he earned a degree in civil engineering in 1949.

Mr. Crockett worked for several area engineering firms before establishing Crockett Associates P.A. in 1961, which specialized in land subdivision, water supply and treatment, and wastewater collection and treatment projects.

Mr. Crockett, who lived in the Ridgely Condominium in Towson for 40-plus years, retired in 1969.

A decade later, he became a Security & Exchange Commission registered financial adviser and, until 1982, was publisher and editor of "The Conservative Investor."

Mr. Crockett enjoyed sailing, golf, photography and studying German. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, Windjammers of the Chesapeake, St. Andrew's Society of Baltimore and the Robert Burns Society of Annapolis.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Towson Presbyterian Church, 400 W. Chesapeake Ave.

Surviving are two sons, Christopher J. Crockett of Baltimore, and James A. Crockett of Lake Worth, Fla.; three grandchildren; and a great-granddaughter. Marriages to Helen Louise Paxson and Joan Etta Hardy ended in divorce. Another son, James E. Crockett Jr., died in 1984.