Dr. William T. Harding, Iii

Dr. William T Harding III, Ph.D., MIS, CDP (1942 – 2020)
(Bill) died suddenly on January 3rd, 2020. He was born at his family home in Emporia Virginia on December 4th, 1942. He spent his childhood growing up and going to school in Emporia.

After graduating high school, he earned his bachelor’s degree in Math and Business in 1966 at Elon College, NC. He earned his Master’s degree at Virginia Commonwealth University, (VCU) Richmond, VA in 1974 and His Ph.D. in Management Information Systems at VCU in 1990.

He was drafted into the US Army in 1966 and due to his mathematics background was assigned to the Pentagon in Washington DC where he became a Statistician/Programmer.

Between 1970 and 1984 He worked in the computer industry at various companies including Systems Engineering Computer Company and Computer Sciences Corporation.

He began his teaching career in 1984 as an instructor of computer science at Longwood College (now University) in Farmville Virginia. He became an assistant professor in the School of Business at Longwood in 1988 and in 1993 he became an Associate Professor in the College of Business at Texas A & M University-Corpus Cristy Tx, where he taught from 1993 to 2001. He retired his professorship in 2001 and moved to Florida where he became a part-time non-tenured Information Technology instructor (IT) at the University of South Florida (USF). In 2002 he moved to Punta Gorda, Fl and semi-retired but continued to teach on-line IT classes part-time. He fully retired in 2018.

Bill was a lifetime golfer, having grown up playing golf at the Emporia Country Club. He was a member of his high school and college golf teams where he excelled at the game. He earned many trophies and awards through the years and was the local Club Champion at the Burnt Store Marina and Golf club in 2004. He continued to play golf with his many friends at the Burnt Store Golf and Activity Center in Punta Gorda, FL.

He was also an avid sailor and loved boating of all kinds.

He is survived by his Sister, Betsy Grundy, his Son, James (Jim) Harding, his daughter Kimberly Park and his partner of 18 years, Frances “Cheetah” Currier.