William (Bill) Rankin Dill passed peacefully on March 31 in Auburndale MA, at 95 years of age. Born in 1930, Bill was raised in Sewickley, PA, and was married to Jean McLeod Dill (d. 2023) for over 70 years. He enjoyed an extended family, and was the eldest of six siblings. He is survived by two siblings, four children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Known for his humor, avid reading, poetry, and mushroom foraging, Bill loved exploring ideas, people and places. He spent most of his professional life in academia with a focus on business management. Both for work and pleasure, Bill was always writing: letters to family, academic papers, books, notes on mushrooms, family histories, poetry and Burma Shave-style jingles. His children grew up with the sound of his typewriter lulling them to sleep.
Having started high school at the end of World War II, Bill embraced opportunities in a world of growth and change. With family roots in the state of Maine, he attended Bates College. There he engaged in debate and student government, then graduated with highest honors in English. It was at Bates he met Jean (a math major), his lifelong partner. After graduation, Bill returned to Pennsylvania, and enrolled in the newly created program on Industrial Administration at Carnegie Tech. In 1956 he earned the first PhD from this program. During this time he also got married and took a year for Fulbright study in Norway, returning to Pittsburgh with his wife and new son to continue his work at Carnegie Tech. While still working at Carnegie he wrote a book, had two more children, took a year long sabbatical at Harvard and took research trips to England, Turkey and India.
In 1965, Bill took a turn from academia and joined IBM at their newly opened office in White Plains, NY. He humorously described his work as “managing the managers who manage the teachers to teach the teachers to teach about management” for this company whose motto was simply “THINK”. During this time the household grew to four kids, multiple pets and hundreds of mushroom books.
At age 40 Bill transitioned back into academia, becoming the Dean of New York University Graduate School of Business in 1970. After several years of commuting into the city, an opportunity to move into Greenwich Village opened up. In 1975, the family, pets, typewriter and books all found a new home in NYC. One area of focus of his work at NYU was developing international exchange programs with other business schools. The culmination of this work was heading up the US faculty team establishing China's first Sino-foreign joint advanced economic management talent training base at Dalian University of Technology in 1980.
In 1981, Bill was named president of Babson College. BIll and Jean moved with their youngest child to Wellesley MA. There he focused on building academics: particularly in liberal arts, entrepreneurship, and executive education. After Babson, Bill and Jean made their home in Cumberland Foreside, Maine. He taught at the University of Southern Maine, sat on boards and took up consulting. His consulting work continued to keep them exploring new places, such as Sri Lanka. In these semi-retired years he also embraced the challenges of being an interim President for colleges facing transition. These included Anna Maria College, Boston Architectural Center (now College), and Maine College of Art.
As retirement solidified, Bill and Jean’s passion for travel and sailing blossomed. They had many fine years exploring along the Maine coast, traveling to destinations around the world, and hosting family gatherings. Bill, now on a computer instead of his typewriter, took time to research and write about family history. He also took the lead in creating space for multiple generations of his relations to connect with and enjoy each other.
Finally in 2014 Bill and Jean moved to Lasell Village, in Auburndale Massachusetts. Lasell’s motto of Live, Learn and Laugh suited them beautifully. Their lives were enriched with new projects and friends among the Village community and staff. Bill stepped up to a wide range of committees and focused his writing on poetry.
Throughout his life, Bill was a quiet but thoughtful leader, husband, father, family member and friend. He will be greatly missed. A remembrance gathering for those who knew him will be held at Lasell Village, on May 29 at 1pm. His family will gather privately in Maine this summer to honor both Bill and Jean.