Willis W Shaner

Willis W. Shaner, 94, of Fort Collins, CO, passed away July 21, 2021.

Bill, as he preferred to be called, was born to Willis and Elnora Shaner in New York City. He is survived by his sons Tim of Eugene, Oregon and Mike of La Quinta, California, and is preceded in death by his parents, wife Victoria, daughter Becky, and son Paul.

Bill met Vicky in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where she was visiting family and he was employed as an engineer for Creole Petroleum. A month later they married and remained happily so for 65 years.

Not content with a career as an engineer for an oil company, Bill had greater ambitions and decided to further his education and pursue a career in economic development. After receiving his MBA from Harvard, and then a PhD from Stanford, Bill, employed by Stanford Research Institute, traveled with his family to Madrid for four months, followed by five-and-a-half years in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Securing what would eventually be a full professorship with Colorado State University, he moved with his family to Fort Collins in 1972, teaching at CSU and working abroad as an economic advisor.

Bill's remarkable career brought him and Vicky to numerous countries, from Peru to Swaziland, Jordon, Yemen, Pakistan, Indonesia, and elsewhere. Bill and Vicky were both excellent golfers and later Bill discovered the wonders of scuba diving. In high school, he excelled at football, earning an honorable mention as an offensive guard, and went on to play at Iowa State University where he received his BS in engineering. Having discovered his love of literature at a young age, Bill became an avid reader of the classics upon retirement, tackling everything from Joyce's Ulysses to Don Quixote, and the novels of Salmon Rushdie. He will be greatly missed.