William Gunther

1948 - 2025

William Gunther

Rindge, NH - William E. Gunther, Jr. (Bill) died November 2, 2025 at his home in Rindge, New Hampshire, after a courageous two-year coexistence with cancer.

Born April 6, 1948, in Brooklyn, New York, he was the son of William and Josephine (Liccardi) Gunther. In 1954, Bill and his family moved to Plainview, NY, on Long Island, where he was raised surrounded by aunts, uncles, and grandparents. After graduating from Plainview High School in 1965, he attended Northeastern University in Boston, where he earned a bachelor's and master's degree in electrical engineering. While attending NU, he met Nancy Hastings, a student at Children's Hospital School of Nursing; they married in 1970. Bill and Nancy moved to Long Island in 1971, first to Northport and then to Wading River in connection with Bill's job with Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO). Bill worked for LILCO for fifteen years, becoming the Operations Engineer at their Shoreham Nuclear Power Plant. In 1984, Bill accepted a position at Brookhaven National Laboratories in Upton, NY, where he served in many roles, including research engineer, Manager of the Office of Environmental Restoration, and Special Assistant to Dr. Nora Volkow in the Medical and Biology Department. After his retirement in 2015, he continued to work as a consultant for BNL and at McCallum-Turner, Inc. Bill was also an independent auditor for the MIT Nuclear Reactor Laboratory. In 2019, Bill and his co-workers from BNL were invited to Ukraine to present a workshop on maintaining nuclear power plants. These workshops continued remotely until November 2024, when engineers from Ukraine were able to attend a live workshop at BNL; Bill felt honored to be one of the presenters.

Wherever he lived, Bill contributed to his local community. On Long Island, he served on the Vestry of St. Anselm's Church and the Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) for the former Grumman property at Calverton and was active in the Wading River Civic Association. In Rindge, he participated in the "Got Lunch" program, became President of the Monomonock Lake Property Owners Association, and was an active member of the Monomonock Lake Sailing Association.

Bill loved living on Lake Monomonock. He commented daily on how lucky he was to look out at the lake every morning. He enjoyed all four seasons, but especially summer. It gave him great pleasure to sail his Laser, especially with his grandson, Brice. Bill spent many hours playing games on the beach with his granddaughter, Elle. He was known as the Pop who could not say the word "no". He was truly relaxed, sitting on the beach watching and feeling nature.

He was a loved and loving man. In addition to his wife of 55 years, Nancy, he is survived by his son Brian (Jessica Miller) of South Orange, New Jersey; his daughter Emily of Worcester, Massachusetts; his grandchildren Brice and Elle Gunther; his sisters Christine Hoffman (John) and Catherine Pryzmont. He is predeceased by his brother Steve and sister-in-law Barbara. Bill will be sorely missed by his sister-in-law Sally Hastings, his brother-in-law Chip Hastings (Kathy), many cousins, nieces and nephews, as well as many friends and neighbors.

Memorial service to be scheduled in the spring of 2026

Per Bill's wishes in lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to:

Rindge Conservation Fund

Rindge Town Hall

30 Payson Hill Rd

Rindge, NH 03461.

If anyone wants to send a message to the family, please email: family@williamgunther.org