WILMINGTON — William John Hart, age 95, passed away unexpectedly at home on Wednesday, July 20, 2022. To most he was known as Bill Hart.
Bill was born on November 2, 1926, in New York City, New York. He grew up, though, mostly in Boonton, New Jersey. After graduating high school, Bill enlisted in the US Navy to serve his country during WWII. After finishing boot camp, he was assigned to quartermaster training and then received his orders to serve on a newly commissioned PT Boat in the Atlantic fleet. As the European theater was winding-down, he was ordered to serve on the APD-Destroyer USS Myers, through its decommissioning at the end of the war.
Bill attended Utah State University on the GI Bill and while a student, proposed to and married his life partner, friend and confidant of 61 years, Mary Lois Staib Hart. After graduation he was hired as the Deputy State Forester for the state of Utah, where he oversaw the development and funding of rural fire departments. After earning a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University on a scholarship he returned to the west to work, which included serving as the State Parks Director for Nevada where he worked on the expansion of the state’s park system and management.
Moving back east to the DC area he authored a book on a systems approach to park management, traveled to South America, Africa, Turkey (Türkiye) and Greece to consult with governments on management strategies for national parks, wildlife preserves and forests. As a resource planning consultant, he worked on national and international projects including the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, the Federal Coastal Management Act and recreational management of a reservoir in North Brunswick, Canada. Moving to Wilmington in 1970 he worked for Coastal Zone Resource Consultants and continued resource management consulting including sustainable development of Bald Head Island, the widening of Highway 74/76 west of the Cape Fear River. Bill later developed a study on management and recreational uses of US Army Corps reservoirs and lakes.
Following this, Bill worked on USAID reforestation projects, developing training and management strategies while Lois worked setting up nursing and medical clinics in the countries of Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. He finished his career in the country of Sudan before beginning his thirty-one or so years of “retirement” in the place he always looked forward to returning to, his home of Wilmington and the changing salt marsh creek behind his home. In retirement he stayed active in his community, being elected to the Board of Supervisors for the New Hanover County Soil Conservation District, on which he currently served. He strove to create solutions to manage and protect natural resources not only in the County, but throughout the state, including being active in the development of the county’s tree ordinance and protection of barrier islands.
He is remembered by his grandchildren on being greeted with arms held wide, a big “hey” and the inevitable big bear hugs and being spun around when they came to visit, riding with the top down in his 1967 white Camaro convertible (while he owned it), the “secret valentine” cards every year, stories of his work/trips all over the world, and recent phone conversations and being struck by his perspectives and the indescribable overlapping connections without knowing it beforehand that they existed.
He was preceded in death by his father William Joseph Hart, and mother May Husk Hart, his beloved wife, Mary Lois Staib Hart, and his son William Brett Hart, who passed away as an infant. He is survived by his children Barbara Lynn (Alan) Anderson, Lance David (Deirdre), and Jacqueline May (Michael) Satterfield and his six grandchildren, Garrett Anderson, Raechyl Anderson, Katelyn Satterfield, Sarah Niamh Hart, Tiernan Hart and Ronan Hart, whom he loved and was so immensely proud of.
His family will be holding a celebration of life for friends and colleagues to be held at Andrews Funeral Home, Pine Valley Chapel at 4108 College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28412, July 29, 2022, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. In lieu of flowers, Bill’s family invites you to make a donation in his name to either: WQHR (Wilmington Public Media), https://whqr-web.memsys.com/donate/, or to the NC Foundation for Soil and Water Conservation, https://ncsoilwater.org/
