William B. Salkover, 63, an insurance agent who retired to take on a second career as a Chicago Public School teacher, died Sunday, Nov. 17, in his Evanston home of lung cancer. Raised in Cincinnati, Mr. Salkover settled in the Chicago area after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961. He started working at Salkover Metal Processing, the family’s metal heat-treating plant in Franklin Park, later becoming the company president. In 1964, he married Nancy Markstein. He got a master’s in business administration from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management in 1982. A few years later, Mr. Salkover became an agent with Allstate Insurance Co. He often told his wife that he should have become a teacher and after reading an article about a DePaul University program in which professionals are trained to be teachers, he took early retirement and applied. He taught at Byrd Community Academy, an elementary school that serves the nearby Cabrini-Green public housing complex, from 1999 to 2001. “He loved it,” said his wife. “He could see he was making a difference, and he had something to give the kids.” Always interested in music and theater, Mr. Salkover used his stage presence to his advantage as he read books to the kids. Known as “Mr. Bill,” he worked one on one with the pupils, tutoring them in reading. “Immediately the children treated him like their grandfather,” said teacher Betty David. Because of his illness, Mr. Salkover could not return to the classroom this year, but Mrs. David said the children would frequently come into her classroom to say: “How’s Mr. Bill? Tell Mr. Bill I passed my test.” In his free time, Mr. Salkover sang with the Northwestern University chorus and often shared his opinions through the Chicago Tribune’s “Voice of the People” column. In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Kenneth and David; a daughter, Wendy Witzel; a sister, Sue Salkover Ball; and a granddaughter. Services have been held.
