Journalist, author, state legislator and teacher ran 30 marathons and taught more than 1,000 potential beekeepers
Bill Mares, author, beekeeper, brewer, legislator and teacher, died at home on July 29, 2024, following a diagnosis of cancer. Thanks to hospice and Vermont's Act 39 “death with dignity” law, he was able to see many friends in his last weeks and end his life without pain. Bill was born on November 8, 1940, in St. Louis, Mo. His father, Joseph Mares, was a chemical engineer and his mother, Delia Mares, was a high school teacher and foreign policy activist. From his parents, he received a love of travel and books. He was raised in Dickinson, Texas, and graduated from St. John's School in Houston. He earned a cum laude degree in Middle East history from Harvard College in 1962 and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for six years. After three professional stumbles — the Foreign Service, banking and law school — he fell into journalism as a reporter and photographer in Chicago and eventually worked for newspapers in five states. Although he never intended to become a writer, books found him through his friends and his own curiosity. Bill's books are an eclectic mix covering topics from Marine Corps boot camp to economic democracy, from war memorials to presidential fishing, from desert travel to beekeeping. He wrote the majority of them with friends and experts in their fields. Four of the books were about his principal hobbies: running, fishing, beekeeping, singing and brewing beer. In all, Bill wrote or coauthored 20 books, including his memoir, Better To Be Lucky Than Smart. The final piece of luck was to finish this last book in the couple of months before he died. Bill taught history and American foreign policy for two decades at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vt. He also taught more than 1,000 potential beekeepers through CVU's evening Access classes and classes at Burlington's Intervale. His 30 marathons included three “Bostons,” a couple of “New Yorks” and numerous “Burlingtons.” Bill's singing "career" began with the Harvard Glee Club and ended with Aurora in Burlington. He also served three terms in the Vermont legislature, where his proudest accomplishments were to be vice chair of the Vermont Bicentennial Commission and sponsor of a law enabling the creation of brewpubs in Vermont. In all this, he aspired to be more than…
Journalist, author, state legislator and teacher ran 30 marathons and taught more than 1,000 potential beekeepers
Bill Mares, author, beekeeper, brewer, legislator and teacher, died at home on July 29, 2024, following a diagnosis of cancer. Thanks to hospice and Vermont's Act 39 “death with dignity” law, he was able to see many friends in his last weeks and end his life without pain. Bill was born on November 8, 1940, in St. Louis, Mo. His father, Joseph Mares, was a chemical engineer and his mother, Delia Mares, was a high school teacher and foreign policy activist. From his parents, he received a love of travel and books. He was raised in Dickinson, Texas, and graduated from St. John's School in Houston. He earned a cum laude degree in Middle East history from Harvard College in 1962 and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve for six years. After three professional stumbles — the Foreign Service, banking and law school — he fell into journalism as a reporter and photographer in Chicago and eventually worked for newspapers in five states. Although he never intended to become a writer, books found him through his friends and his own curiosity. Bill's books are an eclectic mix covering topics from Marine Corps boot camp to economic democracy, from war memorials to presidential fishing, from desert travel to beekeeping. He wrote the majority of them with friends and experts in their fields. Four of the books were about his principal hobbies: running, fishing, beekeeping, singing and brewing beer. In all, Bill wrote or coauthored 20 books, including his memoir, Better To Be Lucky Than Smart. The final piece of luck was to finish this last book in the couple of months before he died. Bill taught history and American foreign policy for two decades at Champlain Valley Union High School in Hinesburg, Vt. He also taught more than 1,000 potential beekeepers through CVU's evening Access classes and classes at Burlington's Intervale. His 30 marathons included three “Bostons,” a couple of “New Yorks” and numerous “Burlingtons.” Bill's singing "career" began with the Harvard Glee Club and ended with Aurora in Burlington. He also served three terms in the Vermont legislature, where his proudest accomplishments were to be vice chair of the Vermont Bicentennial Commission and sponsor of a law enabling the creation of brewpubs in Vermont. In all this, he aspired to be more than…