William J. Dailey (Bill) passed away peacefully at home, with the sounds of loons in the

background and surrounded by his family, on June 28.

Bill was born December 29, 1936, the oldest of four children of Bill and Cynthia Dailey.  He spent his youth in Ridgewood, New Jersey and went through the Ridgewood Public School System. Following high school, he joined the U.S. Army and spent two years as a member of the 3rd infantry division in Bamberg, Germany on the Czechoslovakian border.

              

Bill graduated from Rutgers University Night School with a degree in Business and Economics. In 1960 he married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Dreier. Nancy has always been the most essential part of Bill’s life, and Bill has always been the most essential part of Nancy’s life. They dated for seven years prior to marriage and just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary in October of 2025.

After his Army years, Bill joined the Pezrow Company, a food brokerage in New York City where he worked for thirty years, eventually serving as CEO and Chairman of the Company.  During his Pezrow years, Bill was part of the Founding Board of the N.J. Food Bank and the N.J. Food Council. He was a firm believer that there is plenty of food in the world; it just needs to be made available to those in need. Food Banks help solve the distribution problem, and so Bill was committed to working with those organizations. He also helped found a homeless shelter and food bank in Paterson, N.J.

In 1993, Bill retired from Pezrow and moved from New Jersey to New Hampshire to Squam Lake where he lived part time for 15 years and full time for the last 30 years. While living in N.H., he continued to be involved with food distribution and homelessness. He was involved with the Bridge House Shelter and the N.H. Food Bank and has also been an ardent supporter of Camp Hale and the work they do to provide mentoring and camp opportunities for children from Boston.

Bill and Nancy are the parents of three daughters: Vance married to John Fernandez, Kate, married to Laura Rickard, and Maggie, married to Marty Tuohy. They have nine grandchildren (Will, Megan, and Dana Fernandez, David and Matthew Dailey, and Hannah, Sadie, Maeve, and Lochlan Tuohy) with whom they have spent many joyous hours, have loved dearly, and of whom they are very proud. Bill was a storyteller. If you asked any of his grandchildren, they would be able to regale you with tales of his childhood years with his brother Ted and sisters Cynnie (Tarleton) and Ellen (VanWinkle), of his years in the Army and of the food business in the New York area. At the center of his stories were always observations about people, some funny, some filled with admiration. Bill made it a point to see the good in people and to challenge all of us to live up to his standards of generosity and thoughtfulness. His home on Squam Lake was often filled with grandchildren swimming off his dock, joining him for boat rides, skating, and sledding. He had a way of greeting family, friends, and acquaintances that led all of us to believe we were important to him and had his undivided attention. When Bill had an idea, no matter what it was, we were all ready for the project or adventure because generally, he was right, it was a great idea.

Bill had a wonderful life and constantly told anyone who would listen how fortunate, blessed, and grateful he was for his life, and for his wife Nancy, his daughters and their partners, and his grandchildren. We will miss him more than we can describe and will all live in a way that continues to honor the legacy he has created for us.

Our family would like to extend enormous thanks to the caregivers from Comfort Keepers and the Lakes Region VNA Hospice nurses who provided such kind and loving care to Dad over the past months. They have made this process lighter for all of the family.

We invite you to join us, from wherever you are, for a Celebration of Bill’s life on July 8 at 11:00 at The Barn on the Pemi, 341 Daniel Webster Highway, Plymouth, NH. Please come as you are for this casual gathering. The Celebration will be live streamed and archived for future viewing and the link is: https://www.legacy.com/legacy/william-dailey.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Camp Hale, a program of United South End Settlements, in honor of Bill Dailey. Gifts will help ensure that future generations of children can experience the joy, growth, and sense of belonging that Camp Hale has provided for more than 125 years.

Donations may be made online at https://pro.gofundme.com/give/568376#!/donation/checkout or by mailing a check payable to Camp Hale to United South End Settlements, Attn: Camp Hale, 48 Rutland Street, Boston, MA 02118. Please include "In Honor of Bill Dailey" in the memo line."

For more information go to:  Dupuisfuneralhome.com.