William Andrew "Bill" McKenney III

William Andrew McKenney, III, 63, died Oct. 27, 2019, in Richmond, Ky. after a long, courageous battle with cancer.  The son of William Andrew McKenney, Jr. and the late Mabel Gumm McKenney and the brother of Nancy J. McKenney, he was born May 25, 1956, in Lexington, Ky.  He graduated from Model Lab School in Richmond, Ky. in 1974.  He received an appointment to West Point Military Academy from which he transferred to Duke University, where he earned his bachelor’s in mathematics in 1978.  He received an M. S. in mathematics from Clemson University in 1980.  Following graduation from Clemson, he worked for four months at the Southeast Laboratory of the National Marine Fisheries Service in Charleston, S.C.  In the fall of 1980 he entered the doctoral program at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  In 1984 he became Assistant Professor in The School of Administrative Services at the University of Alabama in Huntsville.  He returned to the University of Tennessee in 1986 to complete work on his dissertation.  He successfully defended his dissertation and graduated with his Ph.D. in Management Science in December 1987. 

He taught business at Eastern Kentucky University, the University of Mississippi, and Bethel College (now University) in McKenzie, TN.  He became Associate Professor of Business at Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, TN, in August of 2002.  His main teaching areas were business ethics, international business, and finance.  In 2012 he became division head for business and the MBA program at Martin Methodist.

In 2013 he converted to the Orthodox Christian faith, joining St. Serafim in Memphis, TN.  In 2016 he was made a tonsured reader in a ceremony at St. Mary of Egypt Orthodox Church in Roswell, Georgia.  More recently he was an active member and reader of St. Xenia Orthodox Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 

He loved teaching, learning, and reading and collected many books in fields that interested him.  He was also an enthusiastic model train hobbyist and contributed articles to the L & N Historical Society Magazine.

In addition to his father and sister, he is survived by his cousins:  Robert L. McKenney (Fran) and their children Casey Monhollon (Ryan) and Julia Basil (Chris); Kenneth McKenney; Susan Dearinger (Julian) and her children Chris Dearinger (Angela) and Jessica Massey (Joe); and George Horine (Jean).  He is also survived by his godfather, Mark Hodgson, and by special friends, Raetta Miller of Pulaski, TN, and Nick and Svetlana Nelson of Huntsville, AL.

The funeral service will be Fri., Nov.1, 2019, at 10:30 a.m. at St. Athanasius Orthodox Church (100 Lime Ln.) in Nicholasville, Ky.  Visitation will be the same morning, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., also at St. Athanasius.  Following the funeral, there will be a graveside service at the Richmond (Ky.) Cemetery (606 E. Main) and then a luncheon for friends and family at White Oak Pond Church (1238 Barnes Mill Rd.) in Richmond.

Memorials may be sent to: Saint Xenia Orthodox Church in Huntsville, Alabama, c/o Nick Nelson, 108 Cork Alley, Madison, Alabama 35758-3105, Cell: 256-797-4755

This obituary was lovingly submitted by Bill’s family.

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