by Euclid J. Herie
It is with a profound sense of loss that I write, as president of the World Blind Union, to inform you that William Gallagher recently passed away. Bill was an honorary life member of the World Blind Union and the first regional president of the North America/Caribbean Region.
When we are together in Melbourne and reach the point on the agenda for tributes to the loss of several outstanding members among our leadership, I will include Bill in my brief remarks. I pause to take this opportunity to salute Bill’s career and his leadership in the World Blind Union. However, my relationship with Bill was far more than that because he was truly a good friend and close colleague.
A great deal of credit is rightfully attributed to Dr. Kenneth Jernigan for his leadership and work for the blind throughout the world and particularly in the United States. Bill’s contribution, dramatically different in many ways, brought an important dimension to the harmony that evolved among the leaders of work for the blind within our region. Bill was a thoughtful, gentle individual but had the courage and tenacity of his views and convictions.
Bill spent almost 40 years in the blindness field, beginning his career in 1954 at the Catholic Guild for All the Blind in Boston. In 1961, he left the Catholic Guild to help establish a rehabilitation program at the Greater Pittsburgh Guild for the Blind, and a year later became director of the guild. In 1965 he accepted the position of director of rehabilitation services at the New York Lighthouse.
Bill joined the AFB staff in 1972 as director of program planning and was named associate director for advocacy in 1978, managing field services, publications and information services, governmental relations and public relations, and coordinating all conferences, workshops and training sessions. Two years later he was appointed executive director. He retired from that post in 1990, and was awarded AFB’s highest honor, the Migel Medal, in 1991. He was also honored with the Ambrose M. Shotwell Award in 1992, one of the two highest awards presented by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired.
Bill Gallagher’s contributions to AFB and the field of blindness and low vision were immeasurable. To enable AFB staff and board to stay informed of the needs of the field, he spearheaded the establishment of national advisory committees comprised of nationally recognized leaders in education, rehabilitation and aging. He also worked tirelessly to help improve standards and procedures for accreditation of specialized schools and agencies offering services to blind or visually impaired people.
I last visited with Bill in his summer home in Massachusetts at least five years ago. In spite of his illness, he always cherished work for the blind and the future for all of us involved in the field of blindness, whether consumer, service provider or advocate. He had a firm belief in the work of the World Blind Union and some of you may recall that the CNIB and the American Foundation for the Blind hosted the executive meeting in New York City in 1986.
Many years ago Bill gave me a T-shirt from Webster, Mass. Inscribed across the bottom was a very long and impossible to pronounce sentence in the native language of a local American Indian tribe. When translated, the legend expressed by the sentence was to the effect of “You fish on your side and I’ll fish on my side.” Perhaps the quality I admired the most about Bill Gallagher was his ability to fish on both sides.