Bill passed away November 24th, 1999.

Here are some notes from a website run by the University of California, where Bill directed the CONNECT program:

William W. Otterson, director of UCSD CONNECT at the University of California, San Diego, a successful entrepreneur who used his business experience to benefit hundreds of small start-up companies and tackle large public policy issues, died today of cancer. He was 69.

During his 13 years at UCSD, Otterson built CONNECT into an internationally renowned program that has been studied and modeled by other organizations from as far away as Sweden and as nearby as UC Davis. CONNECT was founded in 1985 by a group of university and community leaders to enhance regional economic development by accelerating the growth of high technology enterprises in San Diego.

Otterson became director shortly after the program's founding and developed the unique characteristics which have enabled the program to make a significant advance in the art of entrepreneurship with the intellectual capital around a research university.

Otterson was born on March 28, 1930 in Oakland, California. He went to Oakland High School and attended Stanford University, earning a BS degree in engineering and an MBA. From Stanford he went directly to the U.S. Air Force where he served at Wright Patterson Air Force base in the computer center. He held positions with Standard Computers and IBM.

He loved to sail, especially in San Francisco Bay and kept a membership in the St. Francis Yacht Club. He traveled extensively and wrote of his adventures in the CONNECT Newsletter. He loved good wine, good food and was passionate about opera and Shakespeare.

Joseph Hu, a young Chinese tenor who lived at the Otterson home when singing here, told a story recently about Bill's ability to inspire and encourage. He had confessed that he felt totally unprepared for the Cascon role in Tosca he was here in San Diego to sing. "Soldier, let's walk," Bill said with his high voltage grin. By the time the two walk-talked around the block, Joseph's courage had somehow been restored. "I came back knowing I could do it, and I did it well," Hu said simply, tears pouring down his face.

If you knew Bill, you knew he had cancer. "When Bill developed cancer 20 years ago, it could have been a downer," said Dr. John Mendelsohn, president of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas and former head of the UCSD Cancer Center. "But he made it a life-changing event and dedicated his efforts to the community of San Diego and the people he loved. San Diego will forever be indebted to him for what he built."

Otterson is survived by Anne, his wife of 38 years, sons John and Eric and daughter Helen. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to the William Otterson Memorial Fund at the San Diego Foundation or the UCSD Cancer Center.