William Andrew McCabe

1958 - 2025

William Andrew McCabe, age 66, passed away peacefully on July 28, 2025, in his home in Winchester, MA, in the company of his family. He was a loving and devoted husband and father.

He was born in Glastonbury, CT on October 28, 1958, the third of six children of James T. and Carol (Todd) McCabe. He is survived by his wife of 35 Years, Ina Bagdianitz McCabe, their daughter Anna S. McCabe and her husband Jonathan Ackerman, his siblings James C. McCabe, Melissa E. Burke, Laurie E. Ling, Thomas M. McCabe and Sarah E. Tasse.

He graduated from Glastonbury High School in 1976 and received his B.A. and M.A. in 1993 (Language and Cultures) from Columbia University.

Bill was curious about many things and had the intelligence and courage to follow through on new ideas.

As a child, he had a strong love of nature, nurtured among the woods behind his childhood home, and further developed with Mr. & Mrs. Babbitt, nature instructors at Camp Woodstock, a YMCA summer camp in northeast Connecticut. He remained an avid gardener throughout his life and held an abiding interest in the ecosystems that surrounded the places he lived.

He had his father's interest and abilities with mechanical systems and had a steady stream of antique vehicles that he worked on. Trips to the salvage yard were always a highlight for Bill.

His interest in language and linguistics led him on many journeys through his life. He focused on Central Asian Studies while at Columbia and spent a year in Alma Ata in Kazakhstan in the Soviet Union. From that experience, he then worked on the production team for A Day in the Life of the Soviet Union, a photo essay that captured 24 hours in images from across the country. His thesis at Columbia required him to combine three separate alphabets - English, Arabic and Cyrillic - into a single document, on the early Microsoft Word platform. This experience led him to his professional career as a software engineer/architect. He worked many years for the UN Pension Fund, TIAA and recently for KPMG. At work he was a mentor and was known as a problem solver and trouble shooter in difficult situations. He was beloved by his co-workers.

He was part of the team that started the new Media Center at Bennington College. His IT work there in the early 1990s gave him, Ina and Anna a connection to the family farm along the Batten Kill in Arlington, VT which they never relinquished, even after moving to Winchester, MA. Their little red cottage in the beautiful Batten Kill valley remained a place of joy and refuge for the rest of his life.

His dream to retire to his home on the Batten Kill was cruelly cut short by progressive supranuclear palsy, but his spirit lives on in the valley and in the hearts of those who loved him.

Gifts in Bill's memory can be sent to:

- Help Save The Bees Foundation - helpsavethebeesfoundation.org

- The Nature Conservancy - nature.org

- Camp Woodstock YMCA - campwoodstock.org

A private memorial service will be held in the fall on the family farm in Arlington.