William “Bill” Fremont Long, Rockville, MD

"Bill Long was encouraged to return to woodturning, after a 60-year hiatus since school, by Norm Sartorius, a friend who is also a renowned wood artist. Bill took classes from Clif Poodry and David Ellsworth and, after mastering the tools, quickly began moving artistically in the direction of his own ideas and desires. He became a member of the Woodworkers Club and joined Montgomery County Woodturners in 2011. In only his second year in MCW, he became President of the club. Bill also joined the AAW and attended several AAW national Symposia around the country. In later years, as MCW Newsletter Editor, Bill won First Place in the 2016 AAW national newsletter contest – a very prestigious accomplishment.

Bill was fearless -- not afraid to try new things. He was very innovative and created his own unique shapes and techniques for holding vessels on the lathe. His designs for turned forms were meaningful to his life. He loved storytelling, particularly when it involved wood. He loved “ugly wood” – wood with character, particularly burls, which he used frequently and to great effect.

When Bill was forced to quit turning, MCW members helped him complete his unfinished pieces, and several members created a form, based on an idea of his that was dear to his heart, and presented it to him as a gift, which was greatly appreciated and highly prized.  

Bill was a deep thinker who chose his words thoughtfully and carefully. We will miss his erudite elocution, his wry, witty commentary, and his love of provenance -- where do things, and we, come from, and whence evolve?  

Our world is a lesser place today. "

--Gary Guenther

On Thursday, November 12, 2020 at his home in North Bethesda, MD. Beloved husband of Laura Brouse-Long and the late Margaret Harrington Long; devoted father of Elizabeth Ann Long Elliott (husband, Harold Dean Elliott) and Sarah Catherine Long Holland (husband, Jonathan Bailey Holland); cherished grandfather of Anne Margaret and Catherine Elizabeth Elliott and Fiona Merrill Holland; brother of James Albert Long (wife, Nan) and Charles Robert Long.

William Freemont Long (“Bill”) was born on March 16, 1936 in Waukegan, Illinois. He led a long, eclectic, and vibrant life as an economist, a wood artist, and a teller of stories. The fourth of six children of Edna Eunice Greene Long and Ralph Edwin Long, he is predeceased by his sister Ann and his brothers Pat and Bud, and by his first wife Maggie.

Bill, his four brothers, and his sister grew up in a home that may have lacked in material wealth and creature comforts but abounded in mischief-making, humor, and intelligence. After several years in Jackson, Mississippi, the family settled in Chattanooga, Tennessee. As a young man, Bill excelled in math and science, played the viola, and sang in his high school choir. His lengthy journey to get a college degree led him first to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, then to the United States Army (where he studied at the Army Language School in Monterey, California, became fluent in Korean, and served as an Intelligence Specialist), then to the University of Colorado at Boulder, and finally to the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his Ph.D. in Economics.

While at UC Berkeley, he met Margaret Ann Harrington, and they married in 1966 and moved to Ithaca, New York, where Bill took a position as Assistant Professor of Economics at Cornell University. In 1968, their daughter Elizabeth was born, followed by Sarah in 1970. In 1971, Bill took a job at the Federal Trade Commission, and the family moved to Bethesda, Maryland. In addition to a distinguished government career leading the Line of Business program at the FTC, Bill served as an elder and deacon at St. Mark Presbyterian Church and graced the choir as a much needed tenor. Bill took early retirement from the federal government in 1988, subsequently serving as a Guest Scholar at The Brookings Institution, and as President of his consulting practice Business Performance Research Associates.

In 1990, after 24 years of marriage, his wife Maggie died of cancer. In the wake of losing Maggie, Bill rediscovered his love of music, acquiring a hammered dulcimer, an instrument he had long admired. He spent long hours playing the dulcimer and reconnecting with his creativity. In the fall of 1991, at a church event, he reconnected with Laura Brouse, and after a few months’ courtship, it was clear that Bill had found the second love of his life. Bill and Laura married in the spring of 1992 and honeymooned in Puerto Rico, the first of several trips to the island, trips together to Quebec, Switzerland, Austria, and England, and many trips to visit friends and family throughout the U.S.

Bill was a detailed and thorough researcher, always bringing his keen intelligence and rigorous integrity to his research on the impact of research and development to the U.S. economy, the effects of leveraged buyouts on investments in R&D, and other topics. As a consultant, his work ranged from economics to biometrics, with lengthy collaborations with such agencies as the National Bureau for Economic Research, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and others.

In 2010, he felt an urge to go back to an activity he had loved when he was in junior high school -- turning wood on a lathe. Over the next several years, he created over fifty pieces of wood art, both in a purpose built studio at his home and at the Montgomery County Woodturners Club, where he served a term as President, and editor of the newsletter.

To his family, Bill was a loving husband, a devoted father, grandfather, and uncle, a gifted artist, a baker of bread, a maker of mischief, and always a teller of stories. He approached life with an abiding passion for social justice, racial equity, family genealogy, and a steadfast commitment to truth and fierce loyalty to his friends. He was perpetually inquisitive, creative, affectionate, kind, and steady. He will be deeply missed.