William M. Scranton

William Maxwell Scranton, 90, a community leader in Keene for 50 years, and past president of the MPB Corporation died Tuesday morning at Langdon Place of Keene after suffering from Alzheimer's for nearly a decade.

He was well known in the community as a business leader and community volunteer, and a past recipient of the Community Service Award presented by the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce. His wife, Andrea, received the same award a few years earlier. Over the past 50 plus years, it would be hard to find a local organization that did not benefit from Scranton's expertise, passion and dry sense of humor.

He was born on March 1, 1921 in Scranton, PA, the son of William H. and Dorothy (Bessell) Scranton.

Mr. Scranton graduated from Princeton University in 1942 with a BSE in Mechanical Engineering and received an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1948.

He was a veteran having served in the United States Air Force from 1947 to 1948.

He married Andrea Abbott in 1949 and moved to Keene in 1952 and adopted four children.

Until he retired in 2000, Mr. Scranton was a self-employed consultant in Keene providing expertise to industrial companies on management problems, mergers and acquisition planning. From 1977 to 1982 he was a Senior Vice President for the First Financial Management Corporation in Boston. He served as President and Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Beede Electrical Instrument Company in Penacook for five years starting in 1977.

Mr. Scranton worked at MPB Corporation, which is now the Timken Corporation for 27 years from 1950 to 1977. He was an Executive Vice President from 1953 to 1962 and became president and chief executive officer in 1962, a position he occupied for 15 years before leaving when the company was sold to Wheelabrator Frye Inc. In his earlier years, he had been employed at the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Division of United Aircraft.

He was a director and chairman of the board of the Indian Head National Bank of Keene, a former director of the Keene National Bank, a director of the IPC Limited Partnership in Bristol, Public Service Company of New Hampshire, Summa Four Inc., Kearsarge Ventures, The OK Tool Company, EMF Inc. of Keene and NHBDC Liquidating Trust, a predecessor to the New Hampshire Business Development Corporation. He had served as a director of the National Association of Manufacturers and the Antifriction Bearing Manufacturers Association. He was a former director of the New Hampshire Children's Aid Society.

Mr. Scranton was a volunteer director and chairman of the Keene Development Commission, and a director of the Keene Planning Board, Southwest Regional Planning Commission, Wyman Way Cooperative, New Hampshire Historical Society of Cheshire County, and the Keene Endowment Association at Keene State College. He was very involved in the Keene Community Chest, which was the predecessor to the Monadnock United Way. He was a trustee and building committee member of what was then the Cheshire Hospital and during the same period was one of the first lay directors of the Keene Clinic. He was a director of WEVO Public Radio, and was on the NH Technical Institute Advisory Board.

He was a past president and a "twice" Paul Harris Fellow (highest award that Rotary can give) of the Keene Rotary Club where he had been a member since 1952. He was a longtime active member of St. James Episcopal Church, having served on the Vestry and numerous fund drives. He was a member of the ROMEO's (Retired Old Men Eating Out.)

He is predeceased by his wife Andrea (Abbott) Scranton who died in 1991.

Survivors include: his children: John Scranton of Florida, Nancy Sporborg and her husband Don of Keene, James Scranton and his wife Cecilia of Chesterfield and Sarah Bedingfield and her husband William of Stratham; five grandchildren: Nathan Scranton, Megan Scranton, Kelly Ritter, Jessica Haskins and Davis Bedingfield; his sister Dorothy Walker of Palm Harbor Florida.

A memorial service for Mr. Scranton will be held Saturday, October 15th at 10 o'clock at St. James Episcopal Church, 44 West Street, Keene. Friends are invited. There are no public calling hours.

It has been requested that gifts be made in memory of Bill Scranton, to the Monadnock United Way, 23 Center Street, Keene.

The Fletcher Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 33 Marlboro Street, Keene is in charge of the arrangements.