WILLIAM WINGATE Obituary

WINGATE--William Peter, born in Manhattan March 2, 1944. Husband of Anne Homstad Wingate, father of William John Wingate, father-in-law of Bethany Lee Nawrocki Wingate, son of Henry Smith Wingate and Ardis Swenson Wingate, brother of Henry Knowles Wingate, after a four-year battle with metastasized prostate cancer, died on June 18, 2023, in Sheboygan, WI. Bill graduated from Pomfret School in 1961 and from Carleton College in 1965. The summer of 1963, Bill was the youngest cast member of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival's "Antony and Cleopatra" and "As You Like It." The summer of 1964 he attended classes at the Neighborhood Playhouse but Bill chose to go back to Carleton for his senior year. After marrying Anne on July 31, 1965, in Eau Claire, WI, he used his undergraduate English major and a post- graduate year at the Bank of New York as a springboard for an MBA from Harvard (1968), knowing he could use that degree to launch a career in non-profit theater management. Accepted for one of the first Ford Foundation Administrative Internships, he was sent to the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum at the Los Angeles Music Center. Before becoming a permanent employee of the Taper in 1970, Bill was interim Business Manager at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. By 1985 he was in charge of managing both the Mark Taper Forum and the Ahmanson Theatre when the Center Theatre Group Board named him Executive Managing Director of CTG. Along the way, he mentored other young managers and served on multiple California and national Boards. On behalf of the Taper, he co-produced the film version of "Zoot Suit" and was Associate Producer of the Broadway production of "Children of a Lesser God." For several years he was a member, and then chair, of the Theater Panel of the NEA, doing site visits and parceling out grants to not-for-profit theaters. Returning to New York in 1988, Bill helped start New Musicals and, for eight months, was Executive Director of the New York City Ballet. In 1990, working out of the home that he and Anne built on Lloyd Neck, Bill established a consulting practice doing executive searches and advising Boards on long-range financial planning. Two clients ended up hiring him full-time: the National Arts Stabilization Fund, then in New York (1993-1995), and Trinity Repertory Company in Providence (1998-2001). After retiring, he became a member of the Board of the Gamm Theater in Pawtucket, RI, and continued as a site evaluator and panel member for both the NEA and the Rhode Island State Arts Council. To be closer to Anne's family, they moved to Wisconsin in 2008. Before Covid, they were season subscribers to Milwaukee Rep, and traveled to Spring Green one weekend each summer to see plays at the American Players Theatre. Last November William and Beth moved from Castaic, CA, to Sheboygan, to live the quieter life that Sheboygan offers on the beautiful western shore of Lake Michigan and to be near Bill and Anne.

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Published by New York Times on Jul. 16, 2023.

Memories and Condolences
for WILLIAM WINGATE

3 Entries

Felix Braendel

August 22, 2023

I had the privilege of being the last person to date Anne Homsted shortly before she took up with William Wingate. We were rehearsing Hamlet at Carleton College in the fall of 1962. Billy was cast as Hamlet, Anne as Ophelia, and I was playing Polonius. I was backstage when someone told me there was something on stage I should see. Our director was running through III, iv, the intense scene between Hamlet and Gertrude, and Billy was tearing in fine fashion through one of Shakespeare's best rants. Anne was sitting in the first row, and she couldn't take her eyes off him. It was immediately clear she would never look at Polonius (or me) like that, and to learn that their pairing has worked out more successfully in life than on the stage.

PK Allen

July 18, 2023

Bill was a classmate of mine at Pomfret School. I remember him best with a banjo on his knee teaching me the Cowboy Lullaby. For years I sang that song to my sleepy kids and grandkids and lately I sing it in my mind when sleep comes slowly. Each time I remember Bill's confident energy and easy smile and steady presence. May all those who knew Bill better and longer than I find such peace in his memory.

Jeff Woodward

July 17, 2023

I am one of the young managers Bill mentored. I was hired right out of grad school to work at the Mark Taper in the audience development department in 1983.The Taper was my first exposure to the regional theater movement as a high school and college student and then professionally. One of the country´s leading theaters and most successful both artistically and administratively, I learned a great deal in my two years and my experience launched a 40 year career as an arts administrator. I am most graceful to Bill for encouraging me to apply to the McCarter Theater Center to be the managing director where he was functioning as a consultant and helping the company transition to a new artistic director, Emily Mann. I got the job and Bill stayed on for several months to help in my transition to be the administrative leader of McCarter. I stayed for 17 years and McCarter became the Taper of the East. Bill was extremely kind to me, prepared me well and loved the American regional theater. I know there are many, many others in the theater whose lives he impacted. The American theater owes him a great deal of gratitude.

Jeff Woodward

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