In Memoriam
William S. Lear
October 14, 2026
On this date we were notified that Bill Lear ’64 had passed away October 11, 2026. Below are the following remembrances:
Obituary
October 15, 2026
Bill Lear
1964 Yale graduation
William S. "Bill" Lear, 84, of Chicago and Naples, Florida, died October 11, 2026, surrounded by his family, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.
Born July 1, 1942 in Pittsburgh, PA to Dorothy M. Lear (née Schureman) and Robert W. Lear, he was a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Business School and served as a Lieutenant (LTJG) in the U.S. Navy.
Bill spent more than 20 years at The First National Bank of Chicago, where he was America's first commercial banker to China. He later cofounded The Chicago Corporation, taught at Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and served as Vice-Chairman of Athena Global Energy Solutions.
Bill Lear
in recent years
A Boston Marathon runner and Everest trekker, he was known for his remarkable physical energy and positive spirit.
Beloved husband of Sharon; loving father of Peter M. Lear, Merritt Lear Beck (Christopher Beck), and Anna S. Lear; dear brother of Andrew R. Lear (Candyce Rylander).
Funeral service is today, Thursday, October 15, 12:30 pm, at St. Chrysostom's Episcopal Church, 1424 N. Dearborn St., Chicago. Burial to follow at Rosehill Cemetery. Shiva will be tonight, Thursday October 15, 5 to 8 pm, at the family home in Wolf Point Plaza.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Northwestern Memorial Foundation, Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center, in memory of Bill Lear and in honor of Sheetal Kircher, MD, or to the Navy Seal Foundation in memory of Bill Lear.
Essay, 60th Reunion Book
by Bill Lear
May 2024
How time flies. It seems a lot shorter than 60 years since being together in New Haven.
My pathway took me from Yale NROTC to assistant engineering officer on the USS CONWAY - DD507, a Navy destroyer which two years later then became the first squadron assigned to Vietnam from the U.S. east coast (Norfolk). The good news is that on the way across the Pacific I learned I was accepted at Harvard Business School. Upon arrival, rather than accept the Navy’s offer to extend my duty to become captain of a “Swift Boat,” I was honorably discharged! Being able to attend grad school while so many others were being drafted remains a remarkable “Thank you” for me to Yale for having had this program. It undoubtedly saved my life.
Harvard was followed by investment banking on Wall Street before being transferred to Chicago where I have called home (now plus Florida) ever since.
My primary career path was with the First National Bank of Chicago, first managing the Communications, Paper, Printing, and Publishing Division and then as head of the Worldwide Energy Group. As those titles imply, since there was no branch banking in Illinois at the time, the bank chose to grow by specializing in business sectors wherever the decision headquarters were located.
In the first role, we became the lead bank to virtually every cable television company and co-lead with Bank of America to most of the motion-picture companies. Most notably in that regard was financing the film Superman and meeting Christopher Reeve (pix upon request). Two years later FNBC was chosen as the sole U.S. correspondent bank to the Peoples Bank of China whereupon, as advisor to China's national oil company CNOOC, I became America’s first retained commercial banker to China. An amazing memorable experience.
Today I am Vice-Chairman of a small environmental company with the engineering skills to design unique combinations of our many worldwide technology licenses to solve complex water, waste/energy, and other pollution challenges. Doing well by doing good.
Lessons learned from my Yale experience were far more than just educational. It was how to increase the use of one’s natural talents to enhance life’s satisfaction. Open that door. Answer the phone. Make that call. Join that group.
I feel incredibly blessed that doing so has led to wonderful relationships and experiences. Most meaningful was being told I was hired for a highly desired position not for any particular expertise, but because so many achieved personal goals that I described included the word “we”. Yes, I have a 2:57 Boston Marathon and a Mount Everest Tibetan trek to 21,000+ feet under my belt, and, currently, a step count so far this year (2023) of over 4,000,000. Even these are only achievable, however, with strong support of friends and my wonderful wife Sharon and children Peter, Merritt, and Anna.
I am very, very grateful for my Yale experience and how it has supported my life ever since. "Boola, boola."
Essay, 50th Reunion Book
by Bill Lear
May 2014
Accepting Bill Kridel’s challenge to Trumbull classmates, I’m providing a less voluminous personal update in order to share some broader perspectives.
Early last year I migrated to senior advisor from co-founder and managing director of the Chicago Corporation, a regional investment bank, to become president of Athena Financial Services and Vice-Chairman of its new subsidiary, Athena Global Energy Solutions.
Now independent, AGES seeks out best-in-class renewable energy technologies and devises ways to commercialize them, especially in developing economies where competition is negligible. We have found exceptional interest in South Africa where, for one example, AGES engineers have combined flexible solar panels with a breakthrough lithium-ion polymer battery to create a portable energy storage system for potentially broad use in Johannesburg’s townships.
I walked the streets of Soweto with our Zulu-speaking local partner and experienced first-hand the remarkable reaction of its residents to our prototype model, which can keep their shanties well-lit, PCs and music players operating, and even refrigerate food, all for a pre-microloan price of about $375.
An equally enthusiastic reception has been received in RSA for other AGES consortium technologies, none of which we have the slightest interest in bringing to the US other than under the aegis of a Fortune-50-type partner, given the deterioration of the regulatory framework over the past five years.
Tort reform remains a non-starter, the JOBS Act has been emasculated by regulators before it could even get implemented, and banks are virtually forbidden from supporting smaller start-up enterprises. Equity raises on reasonable terms, therefore, especially for early-stage manufacturing enterprises, cannot be achieved at anywhere near the necessary volume.
The macro picture is not much brighter since the policy to increase money supply only deals with half the equation. From Econ10, Economy = MV and the velocity half of this equation remains stagnant in the face of the administration’s counterproductive tax policies of tax and attempts to control the beneficiaries of potential job creation.
On the home front, wife Sharon is Campaign Director for the Northwestern Lake Forest Hospital revitalization. Son Peter is an LCSW working with kids in Boulder. Older daughter Merritt, ’97, is a singer and accompanist on extended world tour with Jason Mraz, and younger daughter Anna, a sophomore at Whitney Young Magnet High School, is an aspiring Yale ’20 applicant. We are very proud of them all.
In the meantime, I try to keep up with these younger women by maintaining a challenging physical fitness regime. I have done the New York Marathon in 2:57 and Boston in 3:00. Also I have had some challenging trekking experiences which included summits of the Jungfrau and Mt. Blanc and reaching Camp III on Everest at 23,000 feet. My current passion is competitive stair climbing. I recently finished second in age group and top 15% out of 4,000 overall with a time of 18-plus minutes going up the Hancock. Soon will be the Willis Tower.
My regards to classmates. I look forward catching up with as many of you as possible in the spring.