Deceased December 2018

View alumni profile (log in required)

In Memory

From his home in Wallingford, Conn., and his good preparation at Choate, Bill brought to the college his height, optimism and broad smile. In his summer after junior year—with aid from a tubby Holland-American ship, a yellow Legnano bicycle and a ready Eurorail pass—he cast his smile upon Milan, Venice, London, Edinburgh and other points in Europe. And in that summer, he met Laura Porter (she of the red-ribbon gondolier’s hat), whom he would marry in 1958.

In senior year, he turned from basketball and crew at the College to take up deadline-driven work for a newspaper publisher in Greenfield, Mass. But he had fulfilled enough requirements to qualify for medical school and could enjoy the pleasures of his major in English. By then he knew that he wanted a career as a pathologist.

He made the most of his medical school years at Penn. And he weathered the chaos of a residency at Bellevue. He flourished as a pathologist in and around Somerville, Mass., and enjoyed teaching medical students at Rutgers-Newark. He served as an expert witness in asbestos-mesothelioma litigation—over and over.

His second marriage, to Elisabeth, a native of Holland, brought with it an opportunity to live in the Caribbean, where, on Saint Maarten, he taught in its medical school. After Elisabeth’s illness and death, he married Nicole, of French-Canadian heritage, and lived in Pennsylvania and in Maryland. Nicole brought him great happiness.

Of all the influences on him, he valued most his medical training at Penn. In his last years, he endured discomfort from a pancreatic disorder—about which he knew all too much. Life experiences and the illness sought to wear away at his smile, but even at the last, he could—and did—still flash it.

Robert Allen ’55

Comment:

I was a 10 year old at Camp Hazen, a YMCA camp in Chester, CT, and Bill was my counselor.  We all fell in love with and were in deep ways shaped by his humanity.  Other counselors were mostly late adolescents full of themselves, Bill was full of us.  Our cabin won essentially everything that summer, from tidy beds to swimming to citizenship because of our respect for Bill.  We wanted to do well--at everything!--because Bill wanted us to do well. 

Other counselors returned from a midsummer weekend off with stories of their conquests with their girlfriends; Bill returned with balsa gliders for each of us and the priceless words, "I missed you."  I can still feel the shame I felt 69 years ago when Bill asked to borrow something from me, a toy, and I was reluctant.  He just quietly pointed out that I was being selfish.  It burns still today. 

In nearly five decades of college teaching, I think I have never seen a young man more mature, wise, generous, and loving than Bill.  He shaped my life and values a lot; I'm guessing every other camper in our group would say the same.  Amherst was lucky to have him.

Sandy Mack