Necrology

William Joseph Nardone '85

Apr. 25, 1963-Apr. 16, 2021

William “B.J.” Joseph Nardone ’85 died on April 16, 2021, in Grand Island, N.Y. Born in Lewistown, N.Y., on April 25, 1963, he came to Hamilton from Lewistown-Porter High School. At Hamilton, he majored in economics and was a member of Delta Phi fraternity. Upon graduating, he proceeded to the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, earning a master of business administration in 1987. 

From that year until 2016, “B.J.,” as he was known to many, worked for HSBC Bank USA in finance, information technology, and audit departments. Over the course of his career, he rose to the position of assistant vice president and model analyst in the bank’s anti-money laundering division. He was quite adept at identifying fraudulent transactions that led to the apprehension of their perpetrators. His skills in financial analysis, systems development and programming, and analytics accounted for his success. 

In the midst of his career, at a Halloween party in 1998, his sister introduced him to Patricia Finney. They would be married in Grand Island on Sept. 29, 2000.

In 2016, he stepped away from full-time work at HSBC but continued to work part time for the bank for several months in audit technology; he created technological solutions for problems the audit department was confronting. Then he accepted a position to work on audit technology at the M&T Bank in Buffalo, from which he retired in 2018. 

There was another side to B.J.: he was a highly skilled, self-taught performer on the piano and guitar. He could (and frequently did) play every one of the Beatles’ songs to the delight of family and friends. His extraordinary memory enabled him to recite classic poetry, to complete The New York Times crossword puzzle in record time, and to answer, with both confidence and accuracy, all questions posed on Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! every evening. B.J. was fluent in French and was an avid world traveler. Indeed, taken together, it is these qualities for which B.J. will be remembered: his mental acuity, sense of humor, and amiability.

B.J. thought highly of Hamilton. He had been accepted at several universities, including Princeton, but came to Hamilton because of the promise that he would be taught by academicians and not graduate teaching assistants. He also recalled, according to his wife, that he was told during his interview with HSBC: “Oh, you went to Hamilton. At least we know you can write.” He also placed a high value upon the lessons in critical thinking he learned on the Hill. In his own words, he was taught “how to think, not what to think.”

William J. Nardone is survived by his wife.

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