Retired City Newspaper publisher Bill Towler died February 27 at age 87 after a long, courageous battle with the neurological disease Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He was a loving, intensely engaged husband, father, and grandfather and is survived by his wife Mary Anna; daughters Elizabeth Towler-Menon and Cheryl Towler Weese; son Will; son-in-law Dan Towler Weese; daughter-in-law Dawn Brandenburg; grandchildren Micah, Cole, and Carter Weese; sisters Lena Scott and Martha Jones; brother Bob; brothers-in-law Robert Scott and Chipper Jones; sister-in-law Cheryl Mullins; and numerous nieces and nephews.
A quiet, humble force of nature, Bill grew up in the South but spent most of his life in Rochester, devoted to the city and its people. He was born in Columbia, Tennessee, and had wanted to be an architect, but there was no university architecture program in Tennessee at that time, and he couldn’t afford out-of-state tuition, so he earned a degree in electrical engineering at the University of Tennessee. He paid his way through college working as a co-op student for Southern Bell telephone company and then as an employee at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
He married Mary Anna in 1962, graduated from the university in the spring of 1963, and the two moved to the Cape Canaveral, Florida, area, where Bill was a project engineer in Pan American World Airways’ Guided Missiles Range Division during the nation’s early space exploration period. They and their infant daughter moved to Rochester in 1965, where Bill worked first at General Dynamics Electronics as a staff engineer, then at Eastman Kodak as a management consultant in industrial engineering, and then at the Gananda Development Corporation as associate director of community development.
And in his spare time, he became heavily involved in city-oriented community activities. A passionate supporter of cities, he served as president of the Park-Oxford Neighborhood Association, chaired a city-wide citizens’ coalition that helped develop a city-planning strategy for Rochester, and served on a task force that developed street-lighting standards for the city. Through the Rochester Episcopal Diocese’s Board for Urban Ministry, he served on a committee working with residents of the Southeast Loop neighborhood as the city prepared to demolish the Savannah Street-Broad Street area during Urban Renewal. And he was an executive committee member of a political action group that took control of the Monroe County Democratic Party.
In 1971, he and Mary Anna founded City East newspaper (later, City), ultimately leaving outside employment for a full-time career as City’s co-publisher, sales manager, and business manager. And for the following nearly 50 years, he devoted himself to supporting independent journalism in Rochester and, in a role he treasured, assisting local businesses and nonprofits, especially arts organizations and small, independent businesses. Bill considered his role in sales to be one of public service, helping small businesses assess their strengths and opportunities, and he often took photographs and designed their ads himself. He served on the board of the Friends & Foundation of the Rochester Public Library and was active in the congregation of Third Presbyterian Church. Nationally, he served as a board member and as president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies, which honored him in 2021 with its Lifetime Achievement award. He retired from City in January 2020 following its sale to WXXI.
Bill loved to cook, to read, to sail, to travel, to paint, to go to concerts, plays, and museums – and to just wander around, anywhere he was (in his last years, frequently frustrating family and caregivers by speeding off in his power chair without them). He never found a food he didn’t like, never heard a type of music he didn’t like, never met a person he didn’t like, never saw a need he didn’t want to try to fill. And despite the progression of his disease, which took away his ability to walk and then to talk, he remained intelligent, curious, and engaged in life as much as he was able, attending an RPO concert two weeks before his death.
In lieu of gathering at a memorial service, friends are encouraged to celebrate his life by supporting Rochester-area arts organizations and efforts for peace and justice.
I am so saddened to hear this news. My husband and I were fortunate to meet the Towlers when we moved to Rochester and bought their beautiful home. Bill was so thoughtful in his follow up calls with my husband, making sure we knew all the quirks and special features. Bill and May Anna hold an important part in Rochester’s history and we are honored to have a small connection to that. Sending love to Mary Anna and the entire family. May he rest in peace.
Bill and Mary Anna were outspoken advocates for justice and neighborhood revitalization.
Rochester owes them a huge thank you for City newspaper.
Agreed, Judy. Amen!
I am so appreciative for Mr. Bill Towler’s contributions, including City
The first time I met Bill, it was to apply for a job. We talked for a few minutes then he handed me a big old metal stapler and said sell me this stapler. I started my pitch and in an effort to sound clever I said, I’m not just selling you a stapler. I’m selling you organization. Then I looked at his desk and there wasn’t anything out of place! It was the most orderly desk I had ever seen. He laughed. I worked for Bill and Mary Anna for nearly 20 years. Until we meet again my friend.
I worked with Bill for many years and to say his role in sales was an act of public service is so true. He never tried to ‘sell’ me but offered solutions based on his knowledge and experience. The loyal team Bill and Mary Anna built at City, having the foresight to pass it on and see its continued success says so much about the people they are and the community that has loved them. Thanks Bill. You will be missed.
We had some great times at the American Hotel with dear friends, tons of laughter, silliness, insight and intrigue. And Bill’s dinners. So blessed to be with you both.
We will miss you.
Love,
Sue & Bob Conge
The Americana near Albany?y brother and I loved going to conventions there!
A community treasure – with such wide-ranging interests! — keeping us all abreast of what was (and wasn’t) going on in Rochester — and a regular at the Council on World Affairs. . . Our warm wishes — and fond memories– to Mary Anna.
Bill is in my mind a Rochester legend as is his wife, Mary Anna, who survives him.
They created independent, honest journalism in Rochester, a city I still love.
We need more Towlers. I send my heart- felt blessings to their family and hope Bill’s legacy will be-as it should be—love your community and speak the truth.
I just saw this notice of Bill’s death. I spent a lot of time with their son Will at he and Mary Anna’s house. I also knew Cherly and Liz. Our families were friends, and I was always over there, even holidays. He’d even take my sister and me sledding at Cobb’s Hill and Highland Park. We’d go everywhere. This was a time in the 1970’s when Park Ave still had a lot of families and was an up-and-coming place to live for singles. We had the best time when we were kids and he and Mary Anna provided some of that. Once in 1989 I was taking a communication class from Tom Proietti at MCC. Bill came over to our house and explained running a business as I had a project due and he offered his support.
Admittedly I had not seen him in years but still go by his old house on Westminster as well as my mother’s house across the street. Since my dad’s passing in 2021 I don’t have any ties to the neighborhood, but I still feel the presence of everyone from that time. I still have vivid memories of that time. I now know the value and influence he and my father had in that area of the city and community in general. People like Bill don’t come a long often and I still remember things he said to me all these years later.
💕
Bill and Mary Anna Towler moved to Rochester in the late 1960’s and founded an institution, CITY newspaper, that has illuminated and endured for more than 50 years. Around the same time, another Southern-born couple, Jim and Carolyn Blount relocated here and founded another iconic print media organ, About…Time magazine. The Blounts also endured for more than 50 years, until their recent deaths.
Bill Towler should be remembered as a man who partnered effectively with his wife to produce something of tremendous value that has sadly gone out of existence in recent years: an independent media voice that speaks with great clarity, moral consistency and unflinching integrity. They covered stories that the major media shied away from. They opined editorially without fearing where the chips might fall. With no ambiguity, they consistently spoke truth to power.
You only saw Bill’s name on the masthead. His beloved life partner was the face and editorial brains of CITY. But the venture would not have survived without his super-effective back room skills. He raised the capital and organized the strategy that kept CITY on firm ground for five decades.
Thank you, William M. Towler, for every conscious act you contributed to making Rochester a wonderful community to live, work and activate in. And thank you for your friendship and support over these many years.
A little late to tune in here, but I just wanted to endorse Bill Johnson’s comments about the Towlers’ huge contribution to local journalism. How we miss those brave voices.
He was an inspiration to all in Rochester and he will be truly missed!
I met Mary Anna when we each had a child enrolled in World of Inquiry, an experimental innovative school which is still in existence!! It was originally in the Bulls Head area near St. Mary’s Hospital. This was in the mid sixties and during the times of the race riots in Rochester. I’m sorry I didn’t meet Bill but was full of admiration for Mary Anna and her husband for their brave, risk taking endeavor to start CITY!! A much needed and outstanding independent newspaper. That it still exists speaks volumes to the quality of their reporting and interesting news and articles. I look forward weekly to picking up my copy as do most of the people I know. Although Bill will be sorely missed, my thanks to all he and Mary Anna did for “Smug Town” Rochester, in putting us on the map – so to speak!!!! Thank you Thank you.
The world needs more people like the Towlers, dedicated to making their community better than they found it by their commitment to the arts, good government, small businesses, urban living, social justice, and outstanding journalism.
After more than 35 years writing for City, I knew Bill or course; with considerable experience of caring for a partner with a progressive neurological condition, had I known of his plight, I might have been able to offer some advice or assistance of some kind, but a certain circumstance, alas, prevented that from happening. RIP.
Interesting that you won’t post my comment.
This is the third attempt at a posting. Forget about it, as they say where I come from.
Much love to the entire Towler family.
Bill and Mary Anna were unstoppable forces in our community.
City East hired me regardless of my lack of formal training. I loved tha assignments and the generous display they gave my photos. Eventually, I was hired by Gannette where I continued my photojournalism experience, but City East
gave my my start.
Goodbye my bright cousin. I knew you as Winky in our youth while you were in Melbourne and we were in Daytona Beach. We didn’t know each other in our adulthood, but you sound as though you were someone I really wish I had spent a lot of time with. Love to you and your family. I’m sure they will miss you.
I wrote about our long relationship with Bill and inMary Anna in a piece on substack. The short of it is we met during the Save the Orchestra Campaign in 1968 and became friends for good. Bill sold me on investing in a local newspaper and eventually I joined the board. There were four of us to begin with. November, as we prepared to leave for winter in a warmer place, we visited with Bill and Mary Anna one more time.