William Williams French III ’53

Bill died Dec. 10, 2020.

He was born in Birmingham, Ala., and graduated from Ramsey High School. At Princeton he joined Quadrangle Club and majored in basic engineering. After graduation Bill served for two years as a lieutenant junior-grade in the Navy in Chicago and on the USS Philippine Sea.

He then earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and returned to Alabama to begin a business career with Alabama Power in the industrial development department. In 1963 he moved to Moore-Handley Hardware Co., where he became president. He later founded The Storeroom as a division of Thompson Tractor Co.

Bill was president of the Downtown Rotary Club of Birmingham and a longtime member of Blooming Grove Hunting and Fishing Club. He enjoyed bird hunting and fly-fishing, and was said to know where every fish was in the streams. Bill was a fourth-generation member of South Highland Presbyterian Church, where he was baptized as a baby and later served as an elder and trustee.

He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Jane Blough French; one son; one daughter; and four grandchildren.