William Patrick Henry

After a life full of family, travel and professional accomplishment, Bill passed away yesterday after a brief battle with metastatic brain cancer. He was able to play softball through August, hike in September, and was preparing to take a week’s vacation in Breckenridge, CO when he was diagnosed with cancer. Bill fought his disease undergoing multiple treatments for the first month. He was optimistic and energized by the support of his loved ones. Despite his best efforts, his condition deteriorated, and he lost his battle. His family is comforted knowing his struggles are over and he is at peace.

Bill had a long and adventurous life following his three main passions: his family, his profession of civil engineering, and his love of the outdoors. He grew up in Manhattan with his mom and three older sisters. Because he grew up without a dad at home, he was passionate about his own family - his wife, Joan, and his two children, Bill and Pegeen. He and Joan were married in Seoul, Korea beginning married life 10,000 miles away from everything they’d ever known. They were married for almost 59 years which were full of exploring new things together like backpacking, horseback riding, sailing, cross-country skiing, and traveling the world. Together, they visited 43 countries, and when they returned home, they often made meals they had tried during their travels to make their adventures last longer!

Bill was a passionate civil engineer who graduated from Cornell University in January 1963. After a stint in the Army, he began a masters’ program in Water Resources Planning at Stanford University, graduating in December 1965, and he later completed an MBA at George Mason University in 1976. He worked on water projects with several different companies, moving from the S.F. Bay Area, to Boulder, CO to Fairfax, VA, back to the Bay Area and then to Seattle. Over his career, Bill was actively involved in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), a world-wide professional organization. He became the President of the S.F. section, chaired, and served on many ASCE committees, and in the fall of 2003, Bill began a 3-year term as the ASCE President-Elect, President, and Past-President. His special focus was working to reduce corruption in the engineering construction industry world-wide. For years after his term ended, Bill spoke at conferences, wrote papers, and helped develop training for engineers on preventing corruption.

Although he grew up in Manhattan, Bill was passionate about exploring the outdoors. With his family he learned to backpack and took many backpacking family vacations beginning when the kids were ages 5 and 7. They camped on three continents but spent most of their time camping in the Sierras in CA. One of their early backpacking trips was in the Alps in Switzerland, a place where most people stay in huts. Bill loved fishing and often caught dinner on backpacking trips. He fished mostly in the Sierras in CA, but also had the opportunity to fish in New Zealand, Slovenia, Alaska, and Florida with his son. Bill, a life-long NY Yankee fan, grew up playing baseball and later softball, which he played until the age of 83. He learned to ride a horse because his daughter Pegeen is a passionate equestrian. He ended up owning a horse named ‘Born Dancin’, and he and Joan rode horses in CA, Ireland, and Canada.

Bill was outgoing with a wonderful sense of humor, and he enjoyed interacting with people. He was well loved and will be missed by his family, his friends, and his professional colleagues. He is survived by his wife, Joan, his son and daughter, and his five grandchildren who all miss him very much. We are preparing a virtual event to celebrate Bill’s life, and we would like to invite his friends and colleagues to all record a short video sharing their favorite “Bill Story” that they would like to share. We will send details about the virtual celebration of life event over the next week.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.OlingerAndrews.com for the Henry family.