William "Bill" R. Kilty ’54 has died, following a five-year battle with melanoma cancer at his San Clemente home on Feb. 4, 2013 at the age of 80. He was born Sept. 2, 1932, to Edith A. and Edmund J. Kilty in Denver, Colo. His family moved to Los Angeles in 1939, where he attended St. Paul the Apostle grammar school in Westwood and Loyola High School. In 1947, the family moved to Palo Alto, and Bill graduated from Bellarmine Prep in 1950 and Santa Clara University in 1954. Following his graduation from Santa Clara, he enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard and served as an officer for three and half years. In 1957, while serving in Long Beach, he married Joan C. LaBounty. After his discharge from the Coast Guard, he was employed by the Crown Zellerbach Corporation as a sales trainee. In 1961, he became Headquarters Sales Supervisor for the Zellerbach Paper Company in San Francisco. In the years that followed, he served as Los Angeles Division Managerial Assistant (1965), Portland Division Manager (1968), and Vice President and Manager for the Zellerbach Paper Company’s southern region. In 1975, he served as Vice President for Corporate Development at Zellerbach headquarters in San Francisco. 

After retiring, Bill and his wife, Joan, relocated to San Clemente, Calif. in 1988 and enjoyed their retirement by traveling, playing golf, and watching their grandchildren blossom. In 1995, Bill’s wife, Joan, succumbed to breast cancer. Eight years later, Bill renewed acquaintance with and ultimately married fellow San Clemente resident, Miriam Schumacher Hoffman, who had been a classmate of Bill’s at St. Paul the Apostle and who died in 2011. Bill is survived by his five children, Ann Hernandez ’80, MBA ’87, Jeanne Jelnick, John Kilty, Tom Kilty ’88 and R. Patrick Kilty; sister, Janet Lewis; and twelve grandchildren. 

Bill was an active member of Rotary, the San Clemente Dons, and Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in San Clemente. Bill was an enthusiastic supporter and fan of his grandchildren as they participated in sports, performing arts, and other activities, and he will be remembered as a generous and loving father and grandfather.