Bill, 81, died May 20, 2018, of a severe brain injury sustained as a result of a fall in Santa Cruz, Calif. He moved to Redding as a child and jumped there 1957-59 after his rookie year in Cave Junction. Bill received university degrees from the U.C Berkley and U.C. Davis. He had a 30-year teaching career at Chabot College in California.

After retirement, Bill wrote a nature column for the "Ridge Rider News" in Shingletown, CA. He was a runner and bicyclist who, when they first met, told his future wife, Kay, that he had totaled as many running miles as the circumference of the earth.