William Guazzo

Westerly — It is with great sadness that the family of William J. Guazzo announces his passing on Monday, April 2, 2018, after battling bone marrow cancer.

He was 70 years old and is survived by his wife, Julie Guazzo; his two sons, Dominic and Cushman Gillen; two stepdaughters, Adrienne and Danielle Belliveau; and two sisters, Patricia Garrott and Joanne Kobelski.

He was born in North Adams, Mass., and lived in Fitchburg, Mass., throughout most of his childhood. He moved to New London as a freshman in high school. He attended Southern and Eastern Connecticut College and UMass in Amherst, and worked for Massachusetts DEP.

Bill was a man of many talents and interests, including football, swimming, cycling, cars and bonsai to name a few. It awed his sister that he was so athletic that he tried out for the 1972 Olympic cycling team.

Bill Guazzo was best known as a competitive cyclist, leading a generation that sparked the American bicycle renaissance. He rode for the U.S. Army team alongside several Olympians and competed throughout America, Canada and Europe. Bill would later ride on the fabled Raleigh Team, largely considered America’s first professional level team of the modern era. He won several state championships in Connecticut. Bill’s most memorable ride was a breakaway in Fitchburg’s 1972 Longsjo Classic. Considered a premier event on the American calendar, the event drew more than 10,000 spectators who watched Bill finish a close second to Canada’s Giuseppi Marinoni.

A memorial will be held in the future.