William C. Kessler

William C. Kessler, Ph.D., passed away peacefully after a complicated battle with Parkinson's Disease resulting in a debilitating bout of pneumonia. Bill journeyed to be with his Lord on March 21st, 2023. He was born on March 17th, 1941, and was 82 years young when he passed. Bill is preceded in death by his mother Dorothy Hall, stepfather Sylvester Barnes, father George Kessler and stepmother Alice Maxwell, as well as his sister Gwen Chesher. He is survived by his adoring wife, Susie Kessler. Bill is also survived by his 4 children and 7 grandchildren:Kimberly Miller (Nichole Hood, Brianna Hood and Taylor Hood)Theresa Kessler (Lisa Lovallo)Michael Kessler (Heather Kessler) (Kingsley Kessler and Beckett Kessler)Donald Kessler (Hannah Kessler) (William Kessler and Natalie Kessler) In addition, Bill is survived by his 2 stepdaughters and 4 grandchildren:Laura Szabo (Brian Szabo) (Andrew Szabo and Collin Szabo)Katherine Bligh (Bligh Mendez and Ava Mendez) "I want you to know, when God made you my father, He knew who I'd need. When he picked you from the others, He could already see, that you would be my Hero and everything I want to be" - R.Roth Bill will also be lovingly remembered by his 4 great grandchildren (Jaxson, Ava, Colt and Adrianna), sisters Beverly Radcliff (Charlie Radcliff) and Judy Green (Bob Green - deceased) and his niece and nephews, Adam Radcliff, Suzanne Green (Clark Green) and Christopher Green. Along with the countless amounts of friends and extended family whom lives he touched. In an attempt to capture the incredible life journey and career of Willam Clarkson Kessler, we quickly came to the conclusion that a book would quite literally need to be written. Well, it had been. Here are the highlights. Bill was born in 1941 in Bronx, NY. In 1956, his mother and stepfather moved and built a house on Country Lane in Kokomo, Indiana. While his first paying job was at the age of 15 in a mail room in New York, the job that started it all was at Babcock & Wilcox with his father in Barberton, Ohio. Here he learned to machine, drill and weld; this position required him to code a Burroughs Computer using basic language (0 and 1). He coded a "sub-routine" for tracking inventory in and out of the warehouse. Today we refer to that as an "app". As Bill's high interest in Astronautics and space flight grew, he recalled regretting not taking college prep classes in high school and did not feel academically prepared to pursue engineering at a university level. In his words, "I did not know what I didn't know". Nevertheless, he attended Purdue University where he was named Airman of the Year (ROTC) his sophomore year and also accepted into the prestigious School of Aeronautical and Engineering Services. He ultimately graduated in 1964 with a BS and in June of 1965 with a MS. 1965-1968 Worked an entry level position at McDonnell Aircraft Company in St. Louis. 1967 - McDonnell merged to become McDonnell Douglas and Bill secures his first Air Force Contract on maneuvering re-entry systems. 1968 - 1969 - Bill was selected by NATO to attend the von Karman Institute in Brussels Belgium, where he spent a memorable year with his family. 1974 - In December Bill, with an NSF Fellowship, completed his Doctor of Science (Dr S) degree at Washington University. 1975 - Begins work at Wright Patterson Airforce Base in Dayton, Ohio and University of Dayton as an adjunct professor of graduate classes in Numerical Methods. In 1989, after numerous promotions, he was ultimately named the Senior Executive Director of the Airforce Manufacturing Technology and Industrial Capabilities Directorate at Wright-Patterson. Bill would earn uncountable awards and recognitions during this period and up until his retirement in 1997. These awards include and are certainly not limited to, The Federal Professional Employee of the year by the Dayton Chamber of Commerce and the Dayton Chapter of the International Personnel Management Association, Acclaimed Advisor to the Defense Science Board, Distinguished Engineering Alumni of Purdue University, and most notably a Certificate of Merit form the Joint Logistics Commanders. 1997 - Bill accepted an executive position as Lockheed Martin's VP of Enterprise Productivity and moved his wife and young son to Atlanta, Georgia. Here Bill would gain approval on a $2 million dollar budget and begin creating what would become known as the "Blackbelt Initiative" that resulted in a team of 100 highly trained individuals and their supporting VP's working on targeting affordability and cost reduction. To say this vision was successful would be a gross understatement. This practice, now used widely in corporations across the country, is commonly referred to as “The Six Sigma Initiative”. One of the accomplishments of this program was developing a seamless infrastructure flow for a robotic coating system for the F22 AF Fighter Jet that resulted in reducing costs by 60%. This plane would become, and remain beyond his retirement in 2007, Bill's passion. 2007-2015 - Accepted a position at Georgia Tech as full Professor within Industrial and Systems Engineering. Separate from GT, he created Palisades Enterprise, LLC to engage in consulting and technological support. In Bill's words, "I did not retire from either of these positions; my efforts at GT and Palisades were phased to completion". Of course, they were. Bill was the epitome of kindness, generosity, humility, integrity and perseverance. His accomplishments in his career pale in comparison to the amount of love and devotion he showed to his wife, his family and his Faith. He is now safe in the arms of the Lord and will be deeply missed by us all. Thank you to each and every one of you for the outpouring of prayer and support as we mourn this incredible and gentle soul. "Be not afraid, I go before you always. Come follow me, and I will give you rest." A Catholic mass will be held at St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church at 1pm on Saturday April 15th, 2023. 1618 Ben King Rd. Kennesaw, GA 30144. A light reception will take place immediately following at the same location. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to your favorite charity in honor of Bill.