William Wiegand
June 11, 1928-Feb. 29, 2016
Menlo Park, California

William Wiegand, 87, died at Stanford Hospital on Feb. 29, 2016. A longtime resident of Menlo Park, California, with his wife Cary Stone, Bill Wiegand retired from the creative writing faculty of San Francisco State University in 1992. His first novel, "At Last, Mr. Tolliver," won the Mary Robert's Rinehart contest while he was still a student at University of Michigan. He remained there as a teaching fellow until 1955 when he left for a writing fellowship at Stanford. There he wrote "The Treatment Man" which won the Joseph Henry Jackson award and was published in 1959. "The School of Soft Knocks" was published in 1968 and his last novel, "The Chester A Arthur Conspiracy," in 1983.

In addition to San Francisco State, where he was department chair, Bill taught at Harvard and Stanford where he received his Ph.D. in English. As a writing instructor he was beloved of student writers for his incisive intelligence, honesty and sharp eye toward improving their writing. Many of his students have published fiction over the past 40 years.

A keen critic of film, Bill directed his own film at the University of Michigan when he was a student there. He also wrote sports journalism. He loved sports. He played tennis with faculty and students at SFSU and SJSU. He rarely missed a Giants game on TV and had an encyclopedic memory for statistics, coupled with very firm opinions about players, managers, trades and steroids (Barry Bonds). His keen intelligence showed up early when, as an 11-year-old, he won the Detroit Metropolitan spelling bee at the State Fair before an audience of thousands, including bands, cheering parents and teachers. But, as his mother wrote, "Billy seemed so calm."

That same incisive mind made him a formidable competitor at bridge, Scrabble and (as a child in Detroit) Monopoly. At home, his chair was surrounded by editions of The New York Review of Books, New Yorker, various newspapers, manuscripts from former students, recent novels and Entertainment Weekly. At a moment's notice, he could provide an incisive guide to contemporary fiction and film, all aspects of Major League Baseball and the state of the union.

Bill Wiegand is survived by his brother, Bob Wiegand; his step-daughter, Mimi Stone; and her brother, Gregory Stone.

Tags: teacher/educator