William Staats is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for his love of family, learning and community, his service to our country, his teaching career, his authorship, and gusto for life.
In high school, Bill was basketball manager and scorekeeper. He sang in chorus and had lead roles in the Operetta “Iolanthe” and the musical “My Sister Eileen”. He wrote for the school’s “Oracle” and was a member of Key Club. Bill graduated in 1950 and enrolled in college. He interrupted his studies to enlist in the Navy serving from 1952-54 as Quartermaster. He completed his undergraduate BS in 1956 and his MS, both in Business Education and both from the NYS Teachers’ College. He holds 75 post graduate credits from the Graduate School of Public Affairs, SUNY Albany. His career in teaching is varied. He taught Business courses at Chatham and Hudson High Schools from 1957-61. He began his college teaching at Hudson Valley Community College in ’61 and was an Accounting Professor and Chair of the Accounting and Business Administration Departments from 1961-95. In between that time, he taught accounting courses for a year (1965-66) at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia. In addition, he was an Adjunct Professor in Computer Programming Software at HVCC from 1995-2004. While at HVCC Bill received the NYS Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Bill’s second career is as an author. He has written two books about the region. His first book, “Three Centuries on the Hudson” is about his family’s 1696 homestead owned and occupied by the Staats family for 12 generations. The homestead’s Dutch name is Hoogebergh and is located off Rte 9J on Staats Island on the Hudson River. His second book is entitled “Campus Capers on the Hudson” and is a collection of anecdotes from his nearly 50 yrs of teaching. Bill often gives talks to civic organizations, historical societies, etc., including the Rensselaer Senior Citizens Center and St. Anthony’s residents. Other volunteer activities include being treasurer of the First Church in Albany for 40 yrs and also singing in the church’s choir. Although slowing down a bit now, Bill’s pass times included annual swims across the Hudson River from the homestead and driving his 1931 Model A Ford Roadster daily from 1965-2010. He has organized several of his class reunions. He has travelled extensively world-wide, going to every continent except Antarctica photographing all 50 State Capitols, as well as the Federal Capital in D.C. Bill was married to the late Sandra Reimann and all of their 7 children went to Rensselaer High School, one of whom was inspired by him to become a Mathematics teacher. They have given him 15 grandchildren. He was nominated by all his children who are also alumni: Mark ‘77, Grant ‘78, Jennifer Hoeffner ‘79, Kristina Erby ‘82, Heather Waters ’84, Greg ‘85 and Victoria Staats ’90 and by his classmate, Anne Ryan Marihugh ’50.