Bill Coates, 90, passed away peacefully on April 13, 2021.
Bill graduated from New Trier High School and received his degree in actuarial science from the University of Michigan. After working many years in corporate insurance, he started his own company, Daniels-Head Insurance.
Bill and Mary Sue lived in Elgin prior to moving to Hinsdale, where they lived for 44 years. He served 11 years as a volunteer firefighter for the Hinsdale Fire Department, and spent his free time creating beautiful gardens, complete with a pond, waterfall and prairie before moving to LaGrange Park.
He was a 65-year member of the Chicago Mountaineering Club. His love of the mountains took him all over the world, including to Denali, where he was one of the first 100 climbers to summit. His group tested the freeze-dried food used by NASA on their first moon shot.
Bill was an avid lover of nature. When he wasn’t camping, bicycling or climbing (visiting more than 130 countries), he spent his time as a docent for Brookfield Zoo (18 years) and in the Plant Clinic at the Morton Arboretum (12 years).
He is greatly missed by all who knew him.
He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Mary Sue Coates; his children, Catherine (Henry) Terwedow, Gordon (Philippa) Coates and Susan (Joseph) Plomin; his grandchildren, Rose and J. D. Plomin, Willy and Nikita Terwedow and Ian and Dora Coates; and his brother, Robert S. Coates.
