William M. Ekman Obituary (1949 - 2021)

Born Feb 26, 1949, William M. Ekman attended Half Hollow Hills East High School in Dix Hills, NY. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about William M. Ekman.

Graduation Year	Class of 1967
Date of Birth	Feb 26, 1949
Date of Passing	Aug 23, 2021
About	William M. Ekman, 72, of Ridgefield, passed away on Monday, August 23, 2021. Bill was born on February 26, 1949 in Mineola, NY; a son of the late William and Anna (Mack) Ekman. He grew up in Dix Hills, Long Island and attended Half Hollow Hills High School. He later graduated from Alfred University. In 1971 he was part of the undefeated Saxon Football Team. This Fall, the 1971 Football Team will be inducted into AU's Hall of Fame; the first Team to do so, he was very honored. Bill was a longtime Office Renovations Manager for TIAA in New York City. In his free time, he enjoyed golf, hiking and running. He also enjoyed traveling to many national parks in the U.S. and Canada. Bill is survived by his life partner, Angela Gallo as well as his sister, Gail McQueen, as well as cousins in California. Memorial contributions in Bill’s name may be made to the American Cancer Society or Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.

Classmate Memories

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Robert Elias '68 said:

Very sorry to only learn this now, more than 4 years after his passing. "Billy," as we called him, lived across the street from me on Hart Place, Dix Hills. From our very early years until graduation from high school, we grew up together, and then we completely lost touch with each other. But I've often thought about him. A year older than me, he felt like a big brother. We were among the generation where you were let loose as kids and could be gone all day as long as you were back home by dark. Billy and I were always concocting athletic games together: a baseball game with a lacrosse ball off one of the side walls of the Hills elementary school down the street, or home run derby from the bus loading platform over the fence into the potato field, or cross-court, long-distance basketball shooting, or hitting golf balls for distance on the playground, or whiffle-ball home-run derby in the street, or dropping cherry bombs in garbage cans at Halloween, or playing ice hockey in small patches of ice on an adjoining farm, or the 18-hole mini-golf course we set up, half on his property and rest across the street on mine, flipping and scaling baseball cards, and so much more. Billy was a natural athlete and he made me into an athlete as well. He played golf in the spring in high school, but he could have played baseball and been a star. I'm so sorry I lost touch with Billy, who is so memorable for me and who was so meaningful for me in my youth. RIP. Rob Elias

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