MG William Henry Riley Jr., USA, Ret.

Major General William (Bill) Riley Jr. passed away on May 7th, 2019 after a long battle with his health. Bill was born May 3rd, 1938 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to William and Brenda Riley. He was an academic standout and all star swimmer growing up, culminating in him graduating from Tolman High School in 1956 and earning a Rhode Island state swim championship in the butterfly. Upon graduation, he received a scholarship to swim for Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. While attending college, he married his high school sweetheart, Patricia Castle. Bill graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Psychology and was commissioned in the regular Army Anti-Aircraft Artillery in 1960.

Bill served a long and successful Army career spanning 31 years. Of highlight, he served as a Hawk Battery Commander in Europe during the Cold War; operations officer for MAC-V during the Vietnam War and the Tet Offensive in 1968; Hawk Battalion Commander in Key West, Florida; Professor of Military Science at the University of Rhode Island; ADA Brigade Commander in the 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis Washington. Additionally, Bill served as the Assistant Commandant of the U.S. Army’s Air Defense Artillery School at Fort Bliss, TX. Bill served three tours of duty in the Middle East. As a Lieutenant Colonel, he was the senior ADA advisor to the Saudi Arabian Army, which included supervising the deployment of Hawk and Vulcan Air Defense systems into country. As a colonel, Bill served as the Chief of Staff of the Multinational Peacekeeping Force in Sinai, Egypt and as a General Officer, Bill was the project manager for modernizing the Saudi Army. Bill completed his Army career as a Major General assigned as the Deputy Commanding General for the Third U.S. Army Corps at Fort McPherson, GA in 1990.

After Bill’s service in the Army, he became the Vice President and General Manager of International Operations for UNC/Lear Seigler Inc. until 1995 when he became a full partner for Smith, Schultz, Riley and Carrington Inc. Bill retired fully in 2012 and enjoyed traveling the world with Pat, gardening, woodworking, loving his dog and cat, visiting his children and staying involved with the El Paso community.

Bill is survived by his wife Pat of 60 years and his four loving children: David (wife Yvonne), Thomas (wife Kelly), Deborah (husband Wayne) and Paul (wife Elizabeth), 10 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren.