William A Sharpsteen

SHARPSTEEN, William A. 65, of Clearwater, died Monday, July 14, 2014, after a short illness. He is survived by his brother, Phil Sharpsteen of Jericho, VT; his nephew, Matthew Stephenson, and his wife, Deanna, and their children, Olivia and Aidan, of Clifton Park, NY; and his niece, Heather Stephenson, her husband, Mark Kapij, and their daughter, Anya Stephenson Kapij, of Lexington, MA. Born Aug. 31, 1948, in Binghamton, NY, he was the son of Arthur and Esther Sharpsteen. An outgoing, generous man who was quick with a joke, he regularly brought friends together to enjoy good food and help with volunteer projects. He graduated from Binghamton High School in 1966. There he was president of the chess club, a member of the golf team, and manager and statistician for the varsity basketball team and statistician for the Chenango Valley varsity basketball team. He earned an associate's degree in electrical engineering technologies in 1968 from Broome Community College, where he was manager and statistician of the basketball team, accompanying it to two national junior college tournaments. He also played on the college golf team. He earned a bachelor's degree in electrical and electronics engineering from TriState College in 1971. There he was the booster club president and senior class president, and served as building fund chairman for the fraternity Sigma Phi Epsilon. A talented salesman, he worked for Syracuse Bearing/Kaman Technologies from 1971 to 1984. From 1984 to 2001, he was president of Sharp Concepts, a sales agency covering the Northeastern United States that he founded. Starting in 2002, he was president of Sensible Components. He was also president of JIT Silicone Plus, which he founded in 2010. In 1999, he launched the Art Sharpsteen Scholarship Fund to recognize his father's more than 45 years as a basketball coach, mostly in the Southern Tier of New York State. The fund distributes scholarships to student athletes with financial need in the Binghamton, Chenango Valley, and Waverly, NY, school districts. He was influential in getting Arthur Sharpsteen inducted into the New York State Basketball Hall of Fame as a high school coach. In semi-retirement, he fostered nearly 400 greyhound dogs. He founded Gold Coast Greyhound Adoptions in 2003 and served as its president until his final illness. A celebration of his life will be held at 11 am Saturday, Aug. 9, with Senior Pastor Glenn Davis at Countryside Christian Center, 1850 N McMullen Booth Road, Clearwater. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Art Sharpsteen Scholarship Fund, c/o the Community Foundation for South Central New York, 520 Columbia Drive, Suite 100, Johnson City, NY 13790 (note Sharpsteen Fund in the memo) or online at donorswhocare.org/sharpsteen. Or donations may be made to Gold Coast Greyhounds, PO Box 6501, Clearwater, FL 33758, or www.goldcoastgreyhounds.com

Arrangements under the direction of Moss Feaster Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Clearwater, FL.