William Joseph Collins ’45 died on September 13, 2006, in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Born on April 10, 1923, in Lexington, MA, he prepared for college at Lexington High School and became a member of Theta Delta Chi Fraternity at Bowdoin, which he attended from 1941 until February of 1943. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Corps until November of 1945, attaining the rank of corporal and studying meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology until December of 1943. Later he served in Europe. After returning to the College, he graduated in 1946 and then studied at the University of Maine, from which he received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering in 1948. He became a process engineer with the Atlantic Gelatin Division of General Foods Corporation in Woburn, MA. After serving in the Army during the Korean conflict as a lieutenant he returned to the Atlantic Gelatin Plant in Woburn. He was a communicant of St. Mary’s Church in Chelmsford, MA, and a member of the Chelmsford Swimming and Tennis Club. He is survived by his wife, Katherine Casey Collins; a daughter, Joany Collins of Wells; two sisters, Mary R. Collins and Elizabeth Collins, both of Lexington; and several nieces and nephews.