William Henry Hays III

William Henry Hays III, of Nantucket, died Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015. He was 84. Mr. Hays was born in New York City March 24, 1930 to William Henry Hays Jr. and Elizabeth Whiting Hays. He was a graduate of St. Paul's School (1947), Yale University (1951) and Harvard Law School (1957). He served as an active-duty deck officer in the U.S. Navy from 1951 to 1954. In 1957 he married Katharine Heard, who died in 1970, and in 1971 he married Lucile Thornton Walker. They moved from New York City to Nantucket in 1974. He was a partner of Holmes and Hays Law Offices for 25 years. Julie Fitzgerald joined the firm in 1981 as an associate and later became a partner. He was a member of the board of governors and past secretary of the Nantucket Yacht Club, as well as a member of the board of trustees of the Sankaty Head Golf Club, where he also served as secretary and legal counsel for many years. He joined the board of trustees of Nantucket Cottage Hospital in the late 1970s, and was secretary of the board for many years, and also chairman of its nominating committee. He retired as a trustee in 1997, but remained on as a corporator until 2009. He was a founding member of both its original advisory council, and the patient family advisory council, from 2009 to 2012. He remained supportive of efforts to engage community support for a new hospital by serving as a neighborhood captain of its community outreach program until his death. He is survived by his wife, Lucile Walker Hays; two daughters, Katharine Hays McBride and Elizabeth Hays Carroll; and four grandchildren, Elizabeth McBride Ford, Samantha Hays McBride, William Walker Carroll and Emily Hays Carroll.