William Gilmore McNeill Jr. was born on November 2, 1936, in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, the first of six children born to William and Dorothy Mc Neill. His parents were middle class, high school educated. William Sr. was a laborer at J.G. Brills, manufacturer of trolley cars and buses, where Bill acquired his interest in public transportation vehicles. William Sr. went on to be Vice President of Operations at CBS in New York City.

              Bill was educated at Catholic parochial schools until high school when the family moved to Sherrill, a small city in central New York State. Bill attended and graduated from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill Central High School where he finished third in his class. He then studied at Villanova University where he earned a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering degree. He worked for the Army Ordnance Corp in Philadelphia, then General Electric Heavy Military Electronics in Syracuse New York, then Xerox at Rochester New York. While with Xerox he was relocated to Dallas Texas. He earned a master’s degree in computer science at University of Texas at Dallas.

              Bill retired in 2000 and lost Dorothy, his soulmate and wife of 52 years, in 2018. They have three children, Susan, Lorianne and Matthew, and seven grandchildren who all call him Papa. He currently lives close to Matthew at the Milwaukee Catholic Home Independent Living facility.