William "Bill" L. Staats

East Greenbush - William L. (Bill) Staats, former author and professor/chairperson of the Accounting Department at Hudson Valley Community College passed on November 4, 2018.

Mr. Staats received his BS and MS at SUNY Albany, formerly New York State Teachers' College at Albany. He taught secondary school in Chatham and in Hudson, NY.  In 1961, Mr. Staats began his accounting teaching career at Hudson Valley Community College, where he became full professor and chairman of the Accounting and the Business Administration departments. In 1965-66 he took leave to teach at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in Melbourne. Australia. In 1978 he took a sabbatical to study progress of computer courses for business majors in various colleges and universities around the world. Upon return, he established the Personal Computer course at HVCC which over the years enrolled thousands of students. In 1994 he was awarded the State University of New York's Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Mr. Staats was very active at the First Church in Albany, serving on all three governing boards and as church treasurer for forty years. He also sang tenor in the choir for forty years. In 1996 he was awarded the church's Silver Rooster award for distinguished service to the church.

 Mr. Staats and the Staats family have owned and occupied Hoogebergh, their 1696 Dutch homestead on the upper Hudson River for twelve generations. In 2009, at the age of 77, he published “Three Centuries on the Hudson River” about the Staats homestead. In 2014 he published “Campus Capers on the Hudson”, vignettes about his approximate fifty years of teaching. In 2017 he published “Aging Suddenly at 83".

He had a passion for travel and with family he spent time in many countries around the world including visiting all 50 U.S. State Capitals.

William Staats is the widower of Sandra Reimann, who passed away in 2005. He is the son of the late Arthur and Esther Staats and brother of the late Elizabeth Jane Staats Dirzuweit, Lawrence, Joachim, Barent, Garrett, and Bleecker Staats. He is survived by his six children, Mark (Darlene) Staats, Grant (Kathy) Staats, Jennifer Hoeffner, Kristina (Steven) Erby, Heather (Donald) Waters, and Victoria Staats. Also his grandchildren, Meghan, Kevin, Ethan, Evan,  Daniel, TJ, Alex, Zachary, Nicholas, Matthew, Brandon, Tyler, Sawyer, Connor, and Hannah; and his great grandchildren, Aurora, Calvin, Sebastian and Charlie. He was predeceased by his son, Greg Staats.

There will be no viewing hours. A commemorative service will be held at the First Church in Albany, 110 North Pearl Street, Albany, on Saturday November 10, 2018 at 11AM with former Pastor Gregg Mast, officiating, followed by an interment service on Staats Island for friends and family.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of William Staats to the Music Fund at the First Church in Albany, 110 North Pearl Street, Albany, NY 12210 . 

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