William H. Rodgers, III, a resident of Charlestown for the last 3 years and formerly of Newton and Belmont, died on Thursday, March 19, 2009 at his home in Charlestown after a 6 year courageous battle with cancer. He was 64 years old.
Mr. Rodgers was born in Allentown, PA, on May 29, 1944. He grew up in Allentown, PA, where he attended public schools there and graduated from Allentown, High School.
William H. Rodgers, III, was the President of Hamilton Consultants, a marketing and strategy-consulting firm he founded in 1988. Based in Cambridge, MA, USA, the firm specialized in the "information industry" (telecommunications, media, software, information services and publishing), and a variety of "distribution-intensive" industries, including financial services, automotive, building products and Customer durables. The firm maintained close ties with some of the leading academics in the marketing field at top business schools in the U.S.A. and Europe.
Mr. Rodgers continued to personally lead projects in business strategy, marketing auditing, branding, pricing, acquistion due diligence and new business development. Over the past 30 years, he managed over 300 consulting assignments, most of which have focused on improving the top and bottom line by obtimizing sales, marketing, pricing and products management. He worked with a variety of large and middle-market companies including AT&T, DHL, IBM, Exxon-Mobil, Verizon, Schlurnberger, Sprint Cellular, General Motors, Barclays Capital, New York Times, Digital, Cellular Telephone Industry Association (CTIA), Assurant and Forrester Research.
Prior to founding Hamilton, Mr. Rodgers served as Senior Vice President with The MAC Group, Inc., a global strategy consultancy that eventually merged with Cap Gemini Sogeti. Operating from the Cambridge and Washington, D.C., offices of MAC, he led several global assignments in addition to U.S. work. Prior to MAC, he worked for Procter and Gamble and a start up consumer electronics company in operations, engineering, finance, marketing and sales roles.
He earned a Masters of Science Degree in Management from the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management. He also earned a B.S. degree in Industrial Administration from Yale University, and continued to be an active member of both the Yale Club of New York City and the Phi Beta Kappa honorry society. He also did doctoral work in marketing at Harvard Business School where he was a Research Assistant. He was also a member of the Yale Alumni Association and the Cambridge Boat Club.
Mr. Rodgers is the beloved husband of Christine E. (Johnsen) Rodgers. He is the devoted father of John T. Rodgers of Watertown, Elizabeth S. Brennan of St. Louis, MO, And Daniel H. Rodgers of Los Angeles, CA, and step-father of Samantha F. Pitchel of Austin, TX. Loving grandfather of Emily E. Rodgers, Madeline and Nicholas Brennan. Beloved brother of Lyda Strock of Allentown, PA, And Jonnylee Gore of NJ.
A Memorial Service will be scheduled for a later date.
In lieu of flowers, kindly make memorial donations in William’s name to St. John’s Episcopal Church, 27 Devens Street, Charlestown, MA 02129 or The Epiphany School, 154 Centre Street, Dorchester, MA 02124-2311.