William Holdship Rea ’34

Bill Rea, who was born in Pittsburgh, grew up in its environs, and was named Pittsburgh's Man of the Year in 1966, died May 15, 2006, two months after a mammoth 94th birthday party shared with his lifelong friend, Josh Billings '33 (two days older). For the last several years, because of macular degeneration, Bill was virtually blind.

In 1968, when Pennsylvania's governor named Bill chairman of the State Board of Education's Council on Higher Education, he was already president and director of the Oliver Tyrone Corp. and director of several other corporations, as well as president of the University of Pittsburgh's board of trustees, a member of the board of the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and an alumni trustee of Princeton (during the adoption of coeducation). A local paper observed, "It's been said of William H. Rea that more Pittsburghers can recognize him in terms of his civic activity than by his business accomplishments, considerable as they are." Bill won our class Award for Outstanding Achievement in 1966 for "civic interest and community responsibility."

Bill was married to Ingrid Shellabarger in 1936. She died in 2003. Surviving are a son, Samuel S. '61, four daughters, and several grandchildren.