Necrology

William Joseph Amberg '40

Feb. 16, 1919-Dec. 8, 2004

William Joseph Amberg ’40, a business executive who retired to Halifax, VT, where he became a community leader, was born on February 16, 1919, in Waterbury, CT. The son of Emil J. and Irma Kistler Amberg, he grew up in Waterbury and came to College Hill in 1936 from Crosby High School. After a year at Hamilton, Bill Amberg transferred to Brown University. There he majored in economics and served as president of the Theta Delta Chi house. He acquired his A.B. degree from Brown in 1940 and took courses at the Harvard Business School before entering the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941, not long before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

In 1942, after the United States had entered World War II, Bill Amberg was assigned to the Pacific theater. He sailed to Australia aboard the Queen Mary, the luxury liner that had been converted into a troopship, and arrived 40 days later in Sydney. From there, with the 43rd Bombardment Group of the 5th Air Force, he joined the New Guinea campaign. On November 17, 1944, while on leave back in the States, he was married to Anita L. Clark in Cheshire, CT. He was discharged as a technical sergeant at the war’s end in 1945.

Bill Amberg, while residing in Cheshire, went to work for the Eyelet Specialty Co., manufacturers of lipstick cases and cosmetic containers, in Waterbury. He was assistant treasurer of the company when it was acquired by the International Silver Co. (which later became Insilco Corp.) in 1958. He remained with the Eyelet division, becoming its vice president of finance and controller. Engaged in acquisition work beginning in the 1960s, he acted as liaison officer for subsidiary companies in Canada and Mexico and also traveled extensively on special assignments throughout Europe. In 1968, after serving as assistant treasurer and secretary, he was appointed treasurer of Insilco. He retired in 1985.

Thereafter, Bill Amberg moved from Cheshire to Halifax, where he became a member of the planning and zoning board as well as a justice of the peace. He also served on the Vermont National Resources Council and as a trustee of public funds for Halifax. In addition, he and Anita derived great pleasure from travel that took them from the Arctic to the Antarctic and to such distant parts of the world as Siberia and Tibet.

William J. Amberg died on December 8, 2004, while at his daughter’s home in West Simsbury, CT. In addition to his wife of 60 years and his daughter, Louise Reilly, he is survived by a son, Stephen Amberg, and four granddaughters.

 

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