Mssrs. Cross and Diamond wed after 28 years

John Michael Cross, the son of the late Raymond and Constance Mary Copley Cross of Wilmington, Delaware and before that Barrington, Rhode Island and Manchester, England, married Benjamin David Diamond, son of the late Hymen and Lois Pearlman Diamond, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on the 28th anniversary of the day they met, in a small civil ceremony at the District of Columbia Moultrie Courthouse on April 5, 2010.

Mr. Diamond, a real estate attorney, was with Swidler & Berlin in Washington, DC for many years before retiring after a stroke in 2002. He was involved in bond-financed transactions in the New York real estate market and also the activities of the old Resolution Trust Corporation. He is a 1974 graduate cum laude of Harvard College and received his Juris Doctorate degree from Duquesne University in 1977. He practiced in Pittsburgh before moving to Washington in 1985.

Mr. Cross, also retired, held positions in government, journalism and business in Washington, San Francisco and Pittsburgh, including staff for the late Senator Thomas J. McIntyre of New Hampshire, research director for President Carter’s White House Conference on Small Business, correspondent for Business Week, and economics editor for WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh where he met Mr. Diamond. Mr. Cross was also president of two companies, ran a public interest group, and for many years was vice president, corporate communications, for GE Capital Asset Management. A 1966 graduate of Brown University, he also received an M.A. in Chinese studies there in 1968 and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University in 1969.

Mr. Diamond’s father was a patent attorney at Westinghouse Electric for over 40 years. His mother had been an elementary school teacher in Pittsburgh before her marriage. Mr. Cross’ father was in charge of central engineering for Imperial Chemical Industries’ U.S. operations. His mother was a piano teacher in Rhode Island and Delaware.

“It really was a dark and stormy night when we met,” said Mr. Diamond of that Monday night in the old Holiday Bar in Pittsburgh’s Oakland neighborhood. “But we were actually introduced by a mutual friend.”

Mr. Diamond, asking what Mr. Cross did for a living, was told, “I’m a journalist.” “For what journal?” “Channel 11.” “Oh, I don’t watch local news.” And so began 28 years. Mr. Cross had always said he wouldn’t settle down till he met a lawyer “who would keep me in the style to which I want to become accustomed.”

Residents of Capitol Hill for 25 years, they shared raising Mr. Cross’ daughter, Anne, with his former wife. They have traveled extensively, to all states except Alaska, most of Canada and every continent except Africa and Antarctica. They have made a habit of tasting wines wherever they go from Tasmania to Quebec from Turkey to Thailand.

Although they claimed to have taken a honeymoon in 1982, after they met, in Montreal and Quebec city, the real honeymoon will be in Asheville and the Great Smokies this Spring followed this Fall by a barge trip along the Canal du Bourgogne in France.

“We get around,” they note.