I would like to convey a huge thank you to Bill for his years of dedicated service to the Hudson Division, and the Northern New Jersey Section.

When I was elected Director, one of the things I was most excited about was working with my dear friend Bill. In fact, Bill often has done much valuable work in club outreach in Northern NJ and also Field Day coverage and has helped me get the word out in all of the Division. 

But more than that, Bill as a Section Manager back in the mid 00s was almost completely responsible for our exemption in the New Jersey cell phone law. This was not a conditional exemption under special circumstances, nor was it an opinion from the DMV or similar. This was a blanket exemption for amateur radio written in the statute. Even when the law was updated to cover texting and other distractions, amateur radio's blanket exemption survived. Bill's knowledge of NJ state Government has been invaluable in my efforts to bring awareness to amateur radio in Trenton. Most recently I presented about amateur radio at Engineer's week at the state house. 

Bill and I go back only a few years (about 16 years), to 2006 when I joined the North Jersey DX Association, and when I was being sponsored for membership by former ARRL 1^st VP and former Hudson Division Director (and Vice-Director) Steve Mendelsohn, W2ML. Past Director Frank Fallon (N2FF), Bill, Steve and I would also have lots of interesting conversations about the future of amateur radio and ARRL at the NJDXA picnic every year. Bill truly embodied ARRL service and it was because of him that I gained deep respect and admiration for those who serve ARRL and amateur radio. 

But more recently, Bill and his wife Mary Ann and I were regulars at breakfast at Board meetings, and it was so wonderful to have someone who I could chat with about local stuff... even though we have a few Jersey expats on the Board. 

Moreover Bill and Mary Ann are in my thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time, and I will definitely be checking in on my dear friend Bill at the NJDXA meetings.

TL;DR - This hits me very hard personally, and it is extremely tough to find someone who can fill Bill's shoes. But I understand that Bill needs to take care of himself, and I support him in this regard.

73

Ria, N2RJ

From: arrl-odv <arrl-odv-bounces@reflector.arrl.org> on behalf of Roderick, Rick, K5UR via arrl-odv <arrl-odv@reflector.arrl.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2022 9:56 PM
To: arrl-odv <arrl-odv@arrl.org>
Subject: [arrl-odv:33364] Bill - W2UDT