Bill Parks

1934 - 2023

Bill Parks
July 15, 1934 - March 5, 2023
Moscow, Idaho - Bill Parks of Moscow, Idaho, passed away quietly the evening of Sunday, March 5, 2023 near Boise, with his wife, Donna Holmes Parks and his close friend and business partner, Bryan Dingel, standing by. Bill received end-of-life care at St. Luke's Medical Center in Meridian, Idaho. He was 88 years old; the cause of death was aging-related pulmonary disease.
Bill (he did not like being called "William") had a long, unconventional, and amazing life. He was born July 15, 1934 in South Bend, Indiana, then known as the headquarters of Studebaker, the auto manufacturer. He and his younger brother, David, were raised by his mother, Elizabeth Osborne (later Truland) and his maternal grandparents. He spent some of his boyhood years in rurual Tennesee, but the family eventually moved back to Indiana. Bill's grandfather, David Osborne, was a business training executive, and Bill learned a great deal about business strategy and integrity from his early teachings and example.
After graduating from South Bend Central High, Bill worked a variety of jobs to pay for college at Michigan State in East Lansing. He also dabbled in English literature. After a break to serve in the U.S, Army, he returned to finish his undergraduate business degree, and started a master's program. When he ran out of funds, he moved to Detroit and worked for a couple of years for General Motors' Cadillac division. His experience there doing the same monotonous tasks as a whole bunch of other workers failed to impress as a career option. Eventually he returned to Michigan State to complete advanced degrees in finance and economics.
In the 1960s, Bill married Sue Andersen, a widow with three small children, Rod, Jackie, and Brad. Bill dearly loved Sue's kids and all of their own kids in turn. The family were avid skiiers, and Bill was an accomplished downhill ski instructor and racer.
Bill's first faculty position was at the University of Oregon in Eugene, teaching courses including corporate finance, investments and business ethics and theory. It was a time of social and political upheaval. Always a skeptic, he began to wonder seriously if business and marketing "theory" could be applied in the real world in a way that made a business beneficial for workers and owners both, rather than focusing only on the 'bottom line'.
In 1969, Bill went on a life-changing raft trip on the Colorado River through Grand Canyon. After that he was hooked forever on running rivers. His first raft was purchased from Montgomery Ward for $69.00. At that time, there were very few rafting-specific products available for sale - boaters had to scrounge for military-surplus rubber rafts and army de-lousing bags to use as dry bags, and there were no dedicated tie-downs or straps. Ammo cans frequently served as containers on the water (and still do). As the outdoor recreation industry began to expand, Bill saw his opportunity. He started Northwest River Supplies as a mail-order outfit with an investment of $2,000 in his garage in Eugene. NRS soon grew a reputation as an innovator, developing the first dedicated dry bags and tie-down straps for paddlesports, and eventually producing some of the finest rafts and inflatable kayaks in the world.
After his marriage to Sue ended, Bill moved to Moscow, Idaho to accept a faculty position in the College of Business and Economics at the University of Idaho, and that was where NRS really grew up. During summers, Bill spent as much time on river as possible, and worked regularly as a guide on the Middle Fork, his favorite river.
It's worth noting to aspiring business owners that while NRS was coming of age, Bill did not quit his 'day job', continuing to teach full-time for over 20 years. Even when it had expanded to a warehouse, sales and administrative complex of over 50,000 square feet, folks in Moscow would refer to NRS as "that little raft store on South Main Street."
Faced with a critical turning point for NRS in the mid-1990s, Bill retired from the U of Idaho to tend the business full-time. He married his current wife, Donna Holmes Parks, then a postdoc in Biological Sciences at the U of I, in 1998. They enjoyed a long stretch of years running rivers with good friends - including the Middle Fork and Lower Salmon in Idaho, the Rogue in Oregon, and the Colorado.
Bill was a beautiful boatman in his prime, and was in his element on the river. He emphasized grace over power in big rapids, and finesse rather than brute effort.
In his later years, as NRS continued to flourish, Bill turned to other forms of service. He walked many a mile with one dog or the other on the Latah Trail, which he helped to pave as it was being developed. He played a key role in establishing a city park with a playground that would be safe for neighborhood kids in the Indian Hills section of Moscow. Bill, along with Donna, frequently gave generous financial support to folks in need, young people working through college, young families starting out in life, and several wayward dogs. Bill was also generous with advice and his life experiences. Bill and Donna remain regular supporters of various local conservation, cultural, and humanist organizations.
Bill regularly received offers to sell NRS to larger investors. Instead, in 2013, he sold the company to its employees, who now own and run the company themselves as an ESOP, a benefit plan that enables employees to become owners of a business they work for. NRS, having outgrown its old place on Main Street, expanded and remodeled a building on South Blaine Street, formerly used as a warehouse. This beautiful new building, which showcases a long list of sustainable, environmentally sound features, also boasts a 'flagship store', where NRS products can be seen by the public. Last summer, in 2022, NRS celebrated its 50th anniversary with a big party in the parking lot, and the new building open to the public.
Around 2021, Bill and Donna sold the old NRS building to a local group looking for a way to expand a small ice rink. The newly built ice arena, PARC, represents a community project that brings together people of all ages and stripes for hockey, figure skating and other activities, and sparks new relationships with folks who might not otherwise get to know one another.
Since the sale of NRS, Bill has worked tirelessly with legislators, progressive business organizations, tax analysts and others to reform the corporate tax code to be fairer and more supportive to small businesses in the U.S., rather than providing huge tax shelters to big businesses and the wealthiest Americans. His proudest legacy by far, however, was Northwest River Supplies - most importantly, the people that work there, the ethos of the business, and what it meant in the wider world.
Donna Parks is deeply grateful to the Gritman Hospital ER, Dr. Patricia Marciano of Moscow Family Medicine, Life Flight, St. Luke's Hospitals in Meridian and Boise, and Creekside Rehabilitation and Transitional Center, Meridian. In addition, heartfelt thanks to our steadfast friends, neighbors and 'dog people' who helped during this challenging time. There is no better place to live than the Palouse.
Condolences may be sent to Donna Holmes Parks of Moscow, and Bill's brother David Parks and David's wife Barbara, of Los Altos, California. No formal memorial service is planned at this time.