William Angelo Solemene

Longtime advertising executive William Solemene passed away on the morning of June 10th at Baylor Hospital in Dallas. He was 81. A visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 from 6:00 to 8:00 PM at Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home. Burial service with Military honors will be held on Wednesday, June 15, 2016 at 11:15 AM at DFW National Cemetery. A reception will be held at the L.N. "Bill" Sparkman Family Lounge from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM. A memorial service will follow at 2:00 PM at Sparkman/Hillcrest Northwest Highway Chapel.

Bill Solemene was a native New Yorker who graduated from the University of Vermont in 1961. He immediately embarked on an advertising career which would span five decades. Bill also served as a military office in the Vermont National Guard and later in the Air Force Reserve.

His advertising career took Bill from Vermont to many locations in Central America before he joined the headquarters office in New York of J. Walter Thompson. He was named manager of J. Walter Thompson's Dallas office in 1968 and made Dallas his home the rest of his life. There, Bill Solemene supervised the Oklahoma and North Texas Ford Dealers advertising campaign account before establishing his own advertising agency, Solemene & Associates, in 1973. He oversaw the Texas Ford Dealer account for 18 years, winning many awards in the process for TV production. He also worked on a number of political campaigns where he produced print and broadcast campaigns both in English and Spanish. In 2011 he authored "Challenges of an Ad Man" wrote chronicling his advertising business career.

Bill's military service included stints as an officer in the Vermont National Guard where he received his Navigator and Radio Interceptor Officer ratings in 1960. He flew with the Guard in F-89 D and F-89 J aircraft. He transferred to the Air Force Reserve in 1964 and later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retiring in 1988. His assignments included service as Commander of the 9014th Air Reserve Squadron in Dallas.

Bill Solemene was a strong supporter of the U.S. Military, serving for many years as the Public Affairs Director of the Dallas Veterans Day Parade. He was President of the Dallas Chapter of the Air Force Association (AFA) and served on the national communications committee of the AFA for several years. Bill received many military awards and commendations, including being named the Texas AFA Man of the Year in 2001.

Active in Republican politics, he served on the State Finance Committee of the Republican Party of Texas in the mid-1990s and remained active in the Republican Eagles organization.

In lieu of flowers, Bill's friends would encourage contributions to the Veterans Resource Center on Lancaster Rd. in Dallas, Texas.