William "Bill" J. Heisler

William J. (“Bill”) Heisler, 82, of Hilton Head, South Carolina, passed away in his home on Friday, March 7, 2025.

Bill was born in Livingston Manor, New York in 1942. He attended Liberty High School, where in his junior year, a fellow violin player in the high school orchestra caught his eye. He asked Pat to junior prom - their first date - and they went on to spend the next 65 years together.

After graduating from Union College with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, Bill served in the Air Force for five years before getting a Master’s degree in Business Administration and a doctorate in Human Resource Management from Syracuse University. Bill then went on to start a life-long career in academia and human resource management. Bill served on the business school faculties of the University of Notre Dame, Wake Forest University, Regent University, and Troy University. Bill also spent two decades as a human resource executive at Newport News Shipbuilding, where he had some of his most memorable career-related experiences including sea trials on aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines and shaking hands with Mikhail Gorbachev soon after the Berlin Wall fell.

Bill is preceded in death by his father, William August Heisler, his mother, Fay Madeline Heisler, and his beloved dog and best friend, Comet. He is survived by his lifelong partner and wife, Pat; his daughter, Jamie Heisler Ibrahim, and her husband, Darian Ibrahim, of Williamsburg, Virginia; his son John Heisler, of Bluffton, South Carolina; and the joys of his life, his three grandchildren, Olivia, Ella, and Max.

Bill was a man of faith who quietly ministered weekly at the Peninsula Rescue Mission, an emergency shelter for those experiencing homelessness, when he and the family lived in Newport News, Virginia for more than two decades. His donations to the organization continued long after he and Pat left Virginia. The family has elected to hold a private service to remember Bill, so as a form of memorial, donations to honor Bill’s chosen cause would be appreciated. Donations may be sent in Bill’s name to the Peninsula Rescue Mission, 3700 Huntington Avenue, Newport News, Virginia 23607, https://prm.info/donate-now.

Peninsula Rescue Mission
3700 Huntington Avenue, Newport News VA 23607
Web: https://prm.info/donate-now