Dr. William L. Woolverton

Dr. William L. Woolverton, 62, passed away at University of Mississippi Medical Center on June 13, 2013. A Birmingham, AL native, Dr. Woolverton attended the University of the South: Sewanee, graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1972. He earned a Ph.D. in 1977 at the University of Chicago. Bill completed postdoctoral training at the Medical College of Virginia. In 1980, he returned to the University of Chicago and became the Director of the Drug Abuse Research Center. In June 1993, he arrived at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and served as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior for over two decades. He was also named the Billy S. Guyton Distinguished Professor. Bill was a gifted mentor, training dozens of graduate students, postdoctoral associates, and junior faculty members.

Bill was a devoted father, Alabama football fan, avid guitar player, lover of The Band and played a mean version of “The Weight.” Always interested in physical pursuits, he enjoyed cycling, running, hiking and driving the family's restored Blythe boat on the Black Warrior River. He embraced all people, helping them with humility and grace. A student of philosophy and all religions, Bill searched not for the meaning of life, but for a life with meaning.

“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure, nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.” - William Butler Yeats

Bill is survived by wife Candiss Woolverton and children, William Christopher and Lucy Susan Woolverton; sister Virgina Woolverton, DVM, of Adger, AL; sister Martha Woolverton, Ph.D., of Asheville, NC; brother and sister-in-law Robert H. and Patt Woolverton and niece Margot Blaire of Birmingham, AL; and many colleagues and trainees from all over the country.

Visitation at Wright & Ferguson at 1161 Highland Colony Parkway, Ridgeland on Sunday, June 16, from 4 to 6 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials and financial contributions can be made to the Woolverton Scholarship Fund, PO Box 12974, Jackson, MS, 39236-2974.