Life Trustee William J. “Bill” Abe passed away on Friday, Feb. 18, 2017, at the age of 91. According to Beidelman-Kunsch Funeral Homes and Crematory, Abe was from Naperville and a graduate of North Central College in 1950.
Abe’s connections to NCC ran deep. In his last year at NCC, Abe served as the advertising manager for the College Chronicle. According to a May 24, 1950, article: “Without Jack Koten and his right hand man Bill Abe this paper would have been impossible. … Abe and his staff have combed Naperville and have reached out into surrounding communities to bring in this paper’s life blood (advertising).”
In that same edition, Abe was the focus of the Senior Sketch, written by Chronicle publisher Jack Koten, in which Koten said: “Then there’s Bill Abe, the crackerjack advertising manager of the Chronicle. Bill was president of the Commerce Club last year and was greatly responsible for pushing the advertising lineage of the Chronicle up to an unprecedented 6000 inches this year.”
NCC is also where he met his wife, Mary, and for decades after his graduation, he would serve in various capacities including serving as national chairman of the 1974-75 and 1975-76 NCC Alumni Annual Funds. According to the Sept. 1975 North Central Now magazine, “the highly successful 1974-75 Alumni Annual Fund … netted the highest gift total in the history of the fund” up until that time.
In 2011, NCC honored Abe by naming a historic campus building — an example of Prairie School architecture — after him and his wife, Mary. The Abe House, located at 48 E. Jefferson Ave., is the site of the Center for Global Education.
Abe served for decades as a member of the College’s Board of Trustees, commenting to the North Central Now magazine in November 1995 that “the role of the board has changed from that of a watchdog of the academic and social life on campus to that of a custodian of the College’s financial strength.”
In the same article, Abe reflected on his NCC connection when he said, “As an alumnus, one always longs for the yesteryear at North Central, but that is a product of age, not sound thinking. You like to feel that the College is as meaningful for students today as it was for you. And I think that is happening.”
There will be a visitation for Abe on Friday, Feb. 24, from 4 to 8 p.m. at Beidelman-Kunsch in Naperville. In addition, there will also be a visitation at Grace United Methodist Church on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 1 p.m. along with a service at 2 p.m.
Bob Tomaszewski and Stella Fanega contributed to this article.
