James A. Cronin, renowned proprietor of Jim's Place and friend to there generations of Harvard men, died suddenly late Sunday night at his home in Cambridge. He was seventy.

Be left the management of the combined bar and eating house to sons John and James when he retired three years ago. They plan no major changes after his death.

Cronin came to Boston from Ireland at eighteen without a cent. During his 52-year career he owned and managed six different, successful restaurants. His succession of eating houses covered Cambridge from his first place on Concord Ave., in 1918, to one on Bow St., then on to Mount Auburn St., and finally to today's place on Dunster St. His brother Tom joined him in 1924 to help open their second venture.

His restaurants were always popular meeting places. At the Bow St. restaurant professors and students lined up along his banquet table to drink the first pre-cooled beer in Cambridge. Following Prohibition. Cronin was the first local bartender to get a license to sell beer.

The present "Jim's Place" was opened in 1943, after service personnel had crowded out the Mt. Auburn St. place. The name "Jim's Place" came at the request of undergraduates; before moving in in 1943, he had changed the title of the restaurant three times.