Matchneer III, William Wade
William Wade Matchneer
III. Bill Matchneer passed away peacefully on Saturday,
December 18, 2021 with family at his side. Bill was diagnosed with Multiple
Myeloma in January 2003 and he was given three years to live. His response to his oncologist was “That’s not right.” For 18 years, he continued to prove that prognosis wrong never even taking a leave of absence from work for medical treatment. He worked uninterrupted for the Occupational Health and Safety Review Commission
in Washington,
DC through two stem cell transplants. He then continued working for the U.S.
Department of Housing and
Urban Development heading up their Manufactured
Housing Program. He was responsible for manufactured home construction and safety standards, installation standards and a home dispute resolution program. He retired to
Pittsburgh from the Federal
Reserve Bank in 2014 and joined the law firm of Bradley
Arant Boult Cummings as Senior Counsel on their
Financial Services Litigation
and Compliance Team.
Bill spent his youth in
Columbus, Ohio where he attended Columbus Academy
making many life-long friends. He then followed his father and grandfather in attending Mercersburg
Academy, a college preparatory school in Mercersburg,
Pennsylvania. He was very happy to see his
Mercersburg classmates at their 50th Class Reunion in 2017. After college prep,
Bill followed the beat of his announcers school in Manhattan.
He then attended
Ohio State University where he hosted the overnight progressive rock broadcast as a disc jockey at WCOL.
His first night on the radio local authorities asked him to try to use his influence to calm the campus. The
Ohio State-michigan game had been played that afternoon and the tradition was to trash the campus, no matter who won the game! His WCOL radio days also allowed him to spend time with some Rock’n’roll greats. He told of getting a call from a local promoter offering an interview with
The Grateful Dead. When he arrived, Jerry Garcia just looked at him and said something to the effect, “Hey man, we haven’t done any interviews in years.”
One of the major rock impresarios of the time, Sam
Cutler, apologized to Bill for the mix-up and invited him to watch the show from the orchestra pit.
Bill said seeing the show from there made up for the lost interview. Bill was an enthusiastic life-long Ohio
State Buckeyes fan and was looking forward to this year’s bowl game. He faithfully followed Formula One
Racing and was happy to see Max Verstappen recently win the F1 Championship. He enjoyed fly-fishing and was able to do more during his retirement at the family’s summer home in Brookville, Pennsylvania.
After his radio days,
Bill continued as an avid audiophile and had a collection of more than 2,000 first pressing vinyl albums dating back to the early 1960’s. Bill loved motorsports. He was an amateur racecar driver who won Formula
Vee championships as a member of the Sports
Car Club of America (SCCA).
In 1989, Bill won the North
Atlantic, New England and
New York Region Formula
Vee Championship while he was sponsored by his friends at Demott Auto in
Stamford, Connecticut.
While he raced across three regions, his happy friends at Limerock Park in Connecticut. Bill’s pride and joy was the 1994
Jaguar XJS convertible he had inherited from his Dad.
He entered the Pittsburgh
Vintage Grand Prix in 2014 at Schenley Park and was pleasantly surprised to win
Best Jaguar in Class. He was also very proud of the 1969 Triumph Bonneville motorcycle he had personally restored to mint condition. Always unassuming, Bill found amusement in having a vanity license plate that said Joe
Blow. Bill earned his J.D. from St. John’s University
School of Law and held a
BA (summa cum laude) from Pace University. Bill is survived by his wife of 37 years, Laurie Matchneer; his step-son, Brian (Lisa)
Pieczko Jr.; his sister, Nell (Doug) Schiavi; his brother,
Rick (Angela) Matchneer; his stepsister, Catherine (Wayne) Bardsley; and his in-laws, David (Joan)
Bardsley. He is missed by his niece, Adrienne (Geoff) Abel; nephews, Alex
Schiavi, Ed (Jenny) Bardsley,
Chris Matchneer, Seb
Matchneer, Patrick Bardsley;
and his grandniece,
Brooke Bardsley. He was preceded in death by his parents Eleanor Matchneer and William Wade Matchneer,
Jr. and his stepmother
Sally Matchneer and his nephew Jeff Bardsley.
Family and friends will gather in the springtime in
Brookville, Pennsylvania at the summer home Bill’s grandfather built in 1916.
Further information will be provided at a later time.
Arrangements handled by the John F. Slater Funeral
Home, Inc., 412-881-4100, 4201 Brownsville Road,
Brentwood 15227. In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of Bill should be sent to: UAMS Foundation, 4301
West Markham, Slot #716,
Little Rock, AR 72205,
Designation-myeloma
Research, 501-686-8200 giving.uams.edu