William L. Searle, a respected and influential businessman and philanthropist, whose family owned and operated the G.D. Searle Pharmaceutical Company until 1985, has died of complications from lung cancer at Lake Forest Hospital on August 19. Bill Searle was 76. Mr. Searle made his permanent home in Elko, Nevada, where he owned Maggie Creek Ranch. He was an avid sportsman and actively involved in support of numerous environmental and educational organizations. “I am the luckiest man I know. I can spend what time and talent is given to me to try to make the world around me a little better place,” Mr. Searle once said. Mr. Searle served on the boards of the Field Museum and Chicago Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Shikar-Safari Club International Foundation, the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, the Boone and Crockett Club, and the Western Folklife Center, Elko, Nevada. He was also the founding supporter of The Island School, an environmental and educational institution in South Eleuthera, Bahamas. He was a member of The Grand Island Lodge in Bath, Illinois. A University of Michigan graduate, Bill Searle, was the manager of the 1951 Rose Bowl Team. He was also a graduate of the Advanced Management Program of Harvard University. He served in the Army Chemical Corps during the Korean War. His wife, Sally Burnett Searle; his daughters, Marion S. Searle, Elizabeth B. Searle and Louise S. Klarr, his brother, D.C. Searle, his sister, Suzanne Searle Dixon; 10 grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews survive Mr. Searle. Services are scheduled for 4 p.m. Tuesday, August 24, at Church of the Holy Spirit, Lake Forest. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance, 801 Kingsmill Parkway, Columbus, OH 43229, or The Nature Conservancy in Illinois, Emiquon Project, 8 South Michigan Avenue, Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60603. A visit from his minister prompted Mr. Searle, while still a young boy, to ponder the question, “Why am I here on earth?” In later years, he told an interviewer, “I’m still working on it. But part, or maybe most, of the answer is not just getting by, but making a difference.”
