William Hilsenhoff

William (Bill) HIlsenhoff passed away on Thursday June 16, 2011 in Middleton. He was born on July 13, 1929 in Madison, the son of Raymond and Anne (Wildeman) Hilsenhoff. He grew up in the Nakoma neighborhood where at an early age he developed a love of golfing. He was a member of the West High Golf Team and the UW Varsity Golf Team. He won the Club Championship at Nakoma Country Club and Blackhawk Country Club, and was also a four time Senior Club Champion. He played in the state Nelthorpe Cup matches.

He received his BS, MS and PhD degrees from the UW-Madison, where he met and married Jane Sylvan, and subsequently had three children, Leslie, Linda and Ronald. He served two years in the Army doing classified research at Fort Detrick, MD. He then became a Project Associate with the UW Entomology Department, and eventually Full Professor. He received a UW Faculty Meritorius Emeritus award in 1999.

In June 2010 he received the North American Benthological Society's Award of Excellence and Environmental Stewardship Award. Among his other achievements was the development of the Hilsenhoff Biotic Index used world-wide by water resource managers to gauge water quality. He served as chairman and president of many professional entomological organizations and committees, including the Entomological Society of America, and participated in international conferences. He was noted for his work on classification, phylogeny and natural history of hydradephaga.

He spent countless hours in the UW-Madison Arboretum, where he launched a lifelong birding avocation working for an Eagle Scout merit badge. His love of birding let him to become the editor of the Christmas Bird Counts for the Wisconsin Society of Ornithology's publication the Passenger Pigeon for 35 years, and received the WSO Silver Passenger Pigeon Award in 1978, Certificate of Appreciation in 1989, and the Sam Robbins Lifetime Appreciation award in 2002. He served on the Board of Directors, as Program Chairman and also President of the Madison Audubon Society, where he also organized the Madison Christmas Bird Counts.

He enjoyed his service as a member of the Kiwanis Club of Madison-West.

Since his retirement, Bill and Jane enjoyed spending winters at their home in Green Valley, where they enjoyed many happy hours birding and hiking in the scenic canyons and cienegas of Southern Arizona.

Bill is survived by his loving wife, Jane; and two daughters, Leslie and Linda (husband Steve Sylvester); one son, Ron (wife Connie Hilsenhoff); his sister Barbara Ramsay (husband John Ramsay); sister-in-law Mary Sylvan; two grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his mother and father, mother and father-in-law (Margaret and Victor Sylvan), and brother-in-law (Ronald Sylvan). We love him and will miss him.

There will be a family service Wednesday, June 22, and a celebration of his life at Blackhawk Country Club on Friday, July 1 at 11 am for family and friends.

Memorial donations may be made to the UW Arboretum, Madison Audubon Society, Madison West Kiwanis Club, or Wisconsin Society for Ornithology.