Obituary of William J Fleming

A wake for William J. Fleming, who died 0n Sunday, June 9, at age 97, will be held on Friday, June14 from 4pm to 8pm at Bailey Funeral Home in Mendham. A mass will be held at St. Joseph Church, Mendham on Saturday, June 15 at 10:30 am followed by internment at Hilltop Cemetary.

Following his 1945 graduation from Somerville High School at which he was valedictorian, Bill served in the Navy aboard the Battleship Colorado. He became a registered pharmacist upon graduation from the Rutgers College of Pharmacy, Class of 1950. Bill maintained several long-term friendships from those college years, among them Betty and her husband, Ralph, Condo; the 2 families, including their combined 9 children, often met to play Canasta, and were memorably together to watch the first moonwalk.

Bill had a 40-year career with Warner Lambert, then headquartered in Morris Plains; in the early years, he also was employed as a retail pharmacist where he fielded such prank questions as "Do you have Prince Albert ( a member of royalty as well as a tobacco product) in a can?"  As a Senior Quality Assurance Manager, Bill travelled extensively, visiting approximately 60 countries and flying 3 million miles prior to his 1990 retirement.

Bill was an avid fisherman (so much so that his young granddaughters thought that any item - beach coverups, toys, pillows - featuring fish were appropriate gifts for Pop-Pop. Nevertheless, Bill also found time for bowling, tennis, golf (which he often enjoyed with his son-in-law Bob Cooley and best friend John Negri, and occasionally with his daughter Kathy and her husband Rich Stoops). His concern for ecological causes was reflected through his memberships in Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, and the Great Swamp Watershed Association memberships.  As an Adopt-A-Trail volunteer for the Morris County Park System, Bill assumed responsibility for the nearby Dismal Harmony Nature Area. In 2023, he served as Grand Marshal in the Mendham Borough Labor Day Parade, a year after his wife, Dotty, served in the same capacity.

Bill married the love of his life, Dorothy (nee Vanderhoof), in 1952. They were together through the best of times (bringing 6 children into the world; trips to Alaska, England and Greece; cruises with a special group of friends} and the worst, including health issues with each of their children and the loss of their sons William at age 25, and John at age 45. Also preceding him in death were his sister Florence Smarook and brother Raymond Fleming. Bill is survived by his wife Dotty of Mendham. He is also survived by daughters Kathleen and her husband Rich Stoops of Duncan, SC; Mary and her husband Bob Cooley of Mendham; Theresa of Ledgewood; son Dan of Hollywood, FL; and granddaughters Shannon and her husband John Kelso of Ellicott City, MD and Kelsey Rowland of Santa Monica, CA. 

In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill's memory may be made to the Nature Conservancy, 200 Pottersville Road, Chester NJ 07930.