Obituary: William Wender

William (Bill) Wender was a true son of Atlanta. Bill was born to Freda and Max Wender in 1928. He grew up in Morningside and graduated from Boy’s High, along with his brothers, Donald and Bobby. While there, Bill and Don played together on the baseball team, as third baseman and shortstop, respectively, as part of the “clean-up crew.”

After graduation, Bill attended Vanderbilt in Nashville and the Southern School of Pharmacy in Macon. Bill joined his father and brothers in Wender and Roberts, the family drug store business, and eventually led the business through years of success and expansion in the 1960s through the 1980s, before retiring in the early 1990s.

Bill enjoyed playing golf and gin rummy for many years, watching sports of all kinds (but especially the Braves), and traveling around the world with Lois, his adored second wife of 60 years. And he cherished his multitudinous progeny. Bill had four daughters with his first wife, Helen – Leslie (Larry) Blumberg, Carol (Michael) Aarons, Lana (Myron) Golden, and Amy (John) D’Ambrosio; and two sons and a daughter with his second wife, Lois – John (Randi Risman) Wender; Paul Wender; and Valerie (Michael Katz) Wender. Bill had eight grandchildren: Carol’s sons, Kevin (Melissa) Center and Adam (Lara) Center; Amy’s children, Steven Wolff and Victoria D’Ambrosio; John’s sons, Max (Michaela Sheffield) Wender and Sam Wender; and Valerie’s children, Sarah (Phil) Cromack and Joe (Julie Barnard) Capelouto. Bill also had five great-grandchildren: David Center, Emily Center, Luke Center, Abigail Center, and Lillian Center.

In his 95 years of life, Bill’s college years were the only ones in which he did not live in Atlanta. Not long ago, his granddaughter, Sarah, asked him what his favorite city in the world was, probably thinking he might say Paris. But without hesitation, he emphatically answered “Atlanta.”

Bill passed away peacefully on July 11, 2024. Donations in his memory may be made to the Aviv Rehabilitation Center at the Breman Jewish Home. Arrangements by Dressler’s Jewish Funeral Care, Atlanta (770) 451-4999.