HAWAII – M. William Hart passed away on Feb. 12, while vacationing on the island of Hawaii.

He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. on May 16, 1931, the son of Mary Augusta Reilly and Sylvanus H. Hart Jr., and was a passionate lifelong fan of the New York Yankees.

Bill graduated from Hofstra University, completed a tour in the U.S. Army during the Korean conflict and returned to get his masters’ degree in education at Hofstra. As a young man, his enthusiasm for sports led him to host his own radio and television show. As a sports journalist, he was interested in publishing and became the editor and publisher of a magazine called Spike dedicated to the sport of volleyball.

He was a gifted teacher and spent his entire professional life in education looking for ways to make a difference in the educational process. He thought of himself as a “change agent” recognizing that change was good and necessary for progress in education. His work in the Somerville school system near Boston, as the principal of the Kennedy, Winterhill and Cummings schools was proof of that philosophy.

As a young man, he married his high school sweetheart, Joanne Burns, and together they raised four children in Winchester, Mass. It was during this part of his life that he discovered his deep love for God and once again took that message to the airwaves with a Bible-based radio show.

During the middle part of his life, he married Dael Angelico and together they raised three children in Georgetown, Mass. He founded the Georgetown Education Foundation and served on the Georgetown School Committee, the VFW and the Conservation Commission. He was a member and then president of the Kiwanis Club where he ran a tennis tournament and the Old Nancy Road Race. They also ran The Tin Roof Antique Shop in Georgetown, Mass.

In the late fall of 2001, he moved to a small town in Maine called Rangeley. It is there that he settled into what is known locally as “the Rangeley Life” with his last life partner, Terry Martin. In Rangeley, they agreed to share the “back nine” of life together.

He was a unique spirit living every moment of his life to the fullest. He loved the games of golf and tennis. He skied Sugarloaf and Saddleback mountains and enjoyed taking an active part in local events. During the summer of 2005 while working for the Rangeley Lakes Heritage Trust, he was credited for being the first in recognizing an invasive destructive plant known as milfoil on a visitor’s boat. Because of his quick action in averting the contaminated boat from entering the lake, he was credited a local hero and recognized by the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Living in Rangeley, he enjoyed the quiet opportunity to write children’s Christmas stories, several of which were published in the local newspapers during the Christmas season. He enjoyed rambling about the Maine countryside attending auctions and working with Terry in the summertime with their small antique shop, known locally as Dallas Hill Antiques.

He was a member of the Rangeley Lakes School Board representing Dallas Plantation; a member of the Rangeley Rotary and a member of the Board of Trustees for the Rangeley Public Library.

He is survived by a devoted life-partner, Terry Martin of Rangeley; seven children, Steven Hart of Atlanta, Ga., Donna Hart Schuster of Methuen, Mass., David Hart of Kingfield, Jackie Schwenke of Tiburon, Calif., Adam, Colin, and Emma Hart of Georgetown, Mass.; five grandchildren, Alexandra, Rudolph, Jonathan, Dakota and Kaya; a loving sister and brother-in-law, Muriel and Les Hadley of Levittown, Pa.; a sister-in-law, Linda Hart of New York; and many loving nieces and nephews.

He was predeceased by a brother, Noel; and a sister, Sylvia Buckel. He also leaves his trusted and loving companion, a chocolate Lab named Rufus.

It is said that to have a friend, one must first be a friend. Bill had many friends and was a friend to many. He will be sadly missed