Herbert Williams

Williams, Herbert L.

Herbert Loren Williams, professor emeritus and founding artistic director of Theatre on the Bay at the University of Wisconsin-Marinette passed away on March 19, 2014 in Green Bay, Wisconsin following a short illness.

He was born to Loren and Catherine Williams on February 11, 1935 in Wilkes Barre, PA. From his youth he was drawn to acting and theatre.

However, before his career in theatre began, he joined the Air Force in 1955 and studied Chinese at Yale University. From 1956 to 1959 he was stationed on an island off the Korean Peninsula.

He then attended Union College in Alliance, Ohio where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theatre. From 1963 to 1965 he studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned a masters degree in theatre. He was part of the Wisconsin Idea Theatre '65 that spent a semester in London, England.

In 1966 he joined the faculty of the Communications and Theatre Department at UW-Marinette and with the music director Lyle Iverson, at the request of Dean Lon Weber, began Theatre on the Bay. He brought Broadway to Northeast Wisconsin by not only producing and directing but also acting in many dramas, comedies and musicals such as Cabaret, My Fair Lady, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hello Dolly among many many others through the years.

He fostered much student and community talent from acting to directing to music, to theater technical design. Following his retirement from UW-Marinette in 1995, he directed plays for the Evergreen Players and Green Bay Community Theatres.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his younger brother Thomas. He is survived by one cousin Patricia Kern of Saylorsburg, PA and many friends and colleagues.

Private funeral arrangements are by Hansen Onion and Martell of Marinette. A memorial service to be announced at a later date will be held in the summer on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Marinette.