William Clarance Van Law Jr. ’58

William Clarance Van Law Jr. ’58 of The Villages, Florida, died of cancer May 30. He is survived by Kay, his wife of 39 years, five children (three hers, two his) and seven grandchildren. They had moved to The Villages in central Florida in 2005, when he sold his wealth management company and retired. Hailing from Decatur, Illinois, Bill joined the Navy ROTC at Dartmouth and was a member of the Undergraduate Council, Sigma Chi and the Outing Club, where he was freshman trip director and chairman of Winter Carnival. After two years on a Navy minesweeper he wound up 20 years in retailing in 1979 running a group of Hartmarks stores in Jacksonville, Florida. Remaining in nearby Ponte Vedra Beach, he reinvented himself as a wealth management specialist, working at Merrill Lynch, Shearson Lehman and Prudential Securities before starting his own practice at Raymond James in 1998. “Booze was kicking my butt and with the help of Kay, a higher power and Alcoholic Anonymous’ great 12-step program I got clean and sober in 1978,” Bill wrote in his 50th reunion reflections. He remained active in Alcoholic Anonymous. Linc Mitchell ’58 recalls a man at Bill’s memorial declaring with great emotion: “This man saved my life!” Bill loved the outdoors, vacationing at western ranches and his mountain cabin in North Carolina, owning horses and training German shepherds. Ralph Manuel recalls dinners with Bill and Kay in Hanover. “He was a good man and gentle soul who overcame the demons of alcohol,” says Ralph. “May he rest in peace.”