William F. Heine, 80, of Stonington, CT passed away from metastatic renal cell carcinoma, on September 3, 2022, at home with his loving family by his side. He was born in Newark, NJ on August 4, 1942 to Rose Doerr and Aloisius Heine. He grew up in Manchester, CT and enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Manchester High School in 1961. He was stationed aboard the USS Gearing, out of Newport, RI, and cruised the Mediterranean on standby during the Vietnam War. After his discharge, he worked for Southern New England Telephone, which became SBC for over 30 years, retiring in 2000. He started as a central office technician and retired in a management position as a network technical consultant. While doing this and raising a family, he went to school at night, graduating from Manchester Community College, Eastern CT University and finally, receiving his MBA from Rensselaer Hartford Graduate Center. He was an adjunct professor at Rensselaer Hartford for a few years. Bill had many interests and hobbies. He participated in the YMCA Indian Guides program and Boy Scouts with his sons. He owned many sports cars, a variety of motorcycles and boats. He taught himself sailing on a 12' sailing dingy and gradually moved up to a 30' sailboat, before switching to trawlers and finally buying a 44' Marine Trader. He loved boating in the Mystic area with family and friends, taking trips to Napatree Beach, Fishers Island, Block Island, Newport, Prudence Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. During his lifetime, he was a member of the U.S. Power Squadron, the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, the Harley Owners Group and the British Iron Assoc. Motorcycle Group. He was a skilled handyman and could fix anything, cars, motorcycles, boats and home repairs. He even did woodworking and made a beautiful hutch for our dining room. Bill is survived by his wife of 51 years, Barbara (Wrobel) Heine; sons, Kevin and Daniel, daughter, Melissa and a loving grandson, Connor. He was predeceased by his son, William Zachary. He is also survived by his brother Henry Heine and wife, Sharon; his sister, Barbara Douglass and husband, Andrew and many loving nieces and nephews. A funeral mass for Bill will be celebrated Wednesday, September 14th at 10:00 am at St. Patrick Church 32 East Main St. Mystic. His burial will follow the mass at Stonington Cemetery with military honors. There are no calling hours. Donations can be made in Bill's memory to Yale New Haven Health, Smilow Cancer Hospital, Office of Development, P.O. Box 1849, New Haven, CT 06508-1849 (www.ynhh.org/smilow)

Published by Hartford Courant on Sep. 10, 2022.