Robert F. Cross, author of the presidential biography Sailor in the White House: The Seafaring Life of FDR, is a trustee of the USS Slater, the last destroyer escort still afloat in the United States. The museum ship is fully restored to its original World War II configuration and is moored on the Hudson River in Albany, New York. Cross currently serves as commissioner of the port of Albany and is water commissioner for the city of Albany. He previously was an assistant environmental commissioner for New York State.
Cross, a former award-winning newspaper correspondent, has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Conservationist, Historic Nantucket, Offshore, and Seaport magazines, among other publications. He has been involved in environmental and historic preservation affairs for many years. Cross, a native of Port Jervis, New York, received his Bachelor of Science degree from the State University of New York at Albany and his Master of Arts degree from the State University College at New Paltz. He lives in Albany, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, with his wife, Sheila, a physician, and Fala, their West Highland White Terrier.