William "Bill" Lockett, Jr.

William “Bill” Lockett Jr., innovator, athlete, charmer, beloved husband and patriarch died on September 3, 2020. He was 98. Bill graduated Lafayette College in 1948 with the highest honor: the George Wharton Pepper Prize, awarded since 1923 to a student who most exemplifies the values of Lafayette. Bill was a multisport varsity athlete, a high academic scholar, and an active member of many student community organizations. While at Lafayette, Bill met Dorothy Fulmer, who became his wife of 74 years. During World War II, Bill took a leave from Lafayette to serve his country. He trained pilots to fly B-17 and B-24 bombers in the Army Air Corps. Standard Oil (now Exxon) recruited Bill to use his chemical engineering degree to improve oil refinery design and efficiency. For 37 years, Bill traveled the world, building refineries in Ireland, Wales and France as a Startup Manager. He worked extensively in Japan, Malaysia, Scandinavia, the Caribbean, and Venezuela to improve refinery operations and minimize pollution. Bill was granted nine US Patents in various aspects of petroleum refining throughout his career. Exxon profiled Bill’s work in a national print magazine advertising campaign during the early 1980s. In 1985, Bill retired from Exxon to form Encon Associates, an international engineering consulting business for the petroleum industry located in Far Hills, N.J. Bill and his colleagues leveraged their global relationships to continue important energy conservation work around the world. Encon was acquired by Becht Engineering in 1992. Bill loved the water and his joy was contagious. He and his twin brother Al learned to swim in their immense bathtub aboard the RMS Queen Mary as they traveled to visit their English relatives. Thereafter, the Lockett brothers spent as much time as they could on or in the water. Bill and Al were avid lifetime sailors and kept the Coast Guard busy during their many adventures at sea. Bill never met a wave he didn’t love, whether on a Swan 50 or body surfing at the beach. Bill was a member of the Morris County Golf Club and the Royal Automobile Club, a British social and athletic club. When he wasn’t golfing, Bill was an enthusiastic arts philanthropist: he and his wife Dorothy were longtime patrons of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the Morris Museum, as well as active members of The Preservation Society of Newport County. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Mabel Randles Lockett and William Lockett Sr., and by his twin brother, Albert Lockett. Bill is survived by his wife Dorothy, by his son William Lockett III (Jane), as well as by his daughters Kerry Cross (Steve), Laurie Gingras (Bob) and Tamara Bickel (John.) Bill was also blessed with 9 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren. Private services will be held. His funeral service will be livestreamed on Wednesday, September 16, 2020 at 11am. To view please visit, https://youtu.be/DQW-8uAJfiw In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Hope Health Hospice, 1085 North Main Street, Providence, RI 02904. The family are especially grateful to the staff of Brookdale South Bay and of Brightview Commons, who cared for Bill with exceptional love, attentiveness and compassion.