Bill was born the 23rd of August 1926, in Houston, Texas in the family home on Huldy Street. At the age of 15, he convinced his mother to help him enlist in the Marines and follow his two older brothers into war. After training, he served in the Pacific, eventually landing on Iwo Jima where at age 18, he was wounded and received a purple heart. Upon returning to Houston, he enrolled in the University of Houston (though he lacked a high school diploma) and became president of Alpha Phi Omega and class president, three out of the four years he was there. After graduation from the University of Houston, Bill was admitted to the Harvard Business School and earned his MBA. Upon returning to Houston, he held a variety of positions within the City of Houston government, including serving as Executive Assistant to Mayors Hofheinz and Cutrer.
As an entrepreneur, Bill was part of a real estate development group that created the Galveston communities of Jamaica Beach and Tiki Island. While on a ski vacation with his family, Bill received a phone call from the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson asked him to serve on the board of the Federal Insurance Deposition Corporation. Later, the President named him to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Returning to private life, Bill served as President of Associates Corporation of North America, and Director of Gulf and Western Industries, Inc.
With all of the successes in his life, Bill said that other than his family, the accomplishment that he was most proud of was founding and leading the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Houston, which became one of the nation’s top undergraduate entrepreneurship programs.
Mr. Sherrill is survived by his daughters Cynthia Lea Sherrill and husband Rinaldo Veseliza of Half Moon Bay, California, Sandra Lynn Sherrill of Port Aransas, Texas, and Suzanne Sherrill Waggoner and husband Gary Coberly Waggoner of San Clemente, California, and grandchildren Austin Sherrill Veseliza, Matthew Scott Pevey, Christipher Wade Pevey, Brooke Hamilton Douglas, and Shelby Paige Waggoner. He is preceded in death by his parents, Harry Cleveland Sherrill and Iva Haywood Taylor Sherrill and siblings Lilian Louise, Harry Cleveland Jr, and Taylor Pike.
Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from four o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 30th of September, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.
A funeral service is to be conducted at one o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, the 1st of October, at The Church of St. John the Divine, 2450 River Oaks Boulevard in Houston, where the Rev. Louise Samuelson, Associate Rector, will officiate.
At a later date, the family will gather for a private interment at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA under the direction of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons.
In lieu of customary remembrances, and for those desiring, a scholarship fund has been established for students in the Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship in the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston, 4750 Calhoun Road, Room 320, Houston, Tx 77204-6021. Please make checks payable to: UH College of Business Foundation. In the memo line of the check, please include: Bill Sherrill Memorial Scholarship.
