Bill Close was born in Washington, D.C. in 1931 and grew up in Summit, NJ where he graduated from Summit High School in 1949. He was captain of the soccer team and ran the high hurdles for the track team. At Princeton, he was Batallion Commander of the NROTC unit his senior year and went on to serve three years in the Navy from 1953-1956 as a deck officer in the USS Warrington, a destroyer based in Newport, RI. After his naval service he went to Harvard for an MBA and then on to Wall Street with first, Smith Barney and then, in 1962, with E.F. Hutton as a floor partner on the New York Stock Exchange. There he traded for Hutton until 1988 when he changed to a sole proprietorship. Retiring from the Exchange in 1994 he has continued to live in Rowayton and Norwalk up to the present.
Sailing and skiing were the main activities for many years with Bermuda Races and Ski Club trips all a part of the mix along with a fair amount of world travel. He has three sons and a daughter as well as a stepson and stepdaughter. He and his wife, Stephanie have been married for 27 years. They have 12 grandchildren.
He is a member of the New York Yacht Club, the Cruising Club of America and the Sachem’s Head Yacht Club, as well the as the United Church of Rowayton and the Darien Men’s Association.
Life Is Full!!!!!!