ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 7, 1997 TAG: 9702070070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
TYPE: NEWS OBIT
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
As soon as he got out of the hospital, urologist Bill Butler planned to show his boyhood friend and medical colleague, Dr. Robert Keeley, all about digital photography, his latest hobby.
But Dr. W.W.S. Butler III died Thursday morning of complications from a heart attack he suffered several days earlier, maybe as long ago as Saturday while he was still in Snowmass, Colo., skiing and taking pictures.
Butler, who was 73, worked Monday morning at Jefferson Surgical Clinic, which he and Keeley helped found in 1957. In between patients, he walked down the hall to see Keeley "professionally," his friend recalled Thursday. "He thought he was having indigestion. I wanted him to go on to the hospital then, but he said he had two more patients to see."
"He was pretty used to doing what he wanted to do," said Keeley, who first met Butler at Boy Scout Camp Powatan when they were 12.
After medical school, Keeley joined Butler and Butler's father, Dr. W.W.S. Butler Jr., who were members of a group planning to build a surgical clinic on Franklin Road Southwest.
The practice now employs 11 doctors and 36 staff members, many of them longtime workers, said clinic administrator Becky Radford, who worked with Butler for 27 years.
Butler was a graduate of Virginia Tech and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and was a clinical professor of urology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine from 1981 until his death. The family has asked that memorials take the form of donations to the Department of Urology Research Foundation at UVa.
Butler's medical credentials were equaled by his accomplishments in other areas. His colleagues said he had an insatiable curiosity and loved technology.
He was licensed as a ham radio operator at age 12, had the first computer at the surgical clinic and recently had immersed himself in digital photography.
Butler also still enjoyed scuba diving.
"If you ever lost your glasses at Smith Mountain Lake, he'd retrieve them for you," said a brother, Caldwell Butler, an attorney and retired congressman.
Gruff friendliness was a trait Butler shared with his younger brother, Caldwell, who said Bill Butler was "more frightening because he was big-framed." Some of Butler's friends even called him "Bull" because of his manner.
His deep voice and brisk way of speaking certainly caught the attention of professionals who appeared on complaint charges before the boards of Medicine or Medical Professions, to which he was appointed by Gov. George Allen in July 1994.
"He really enjoyed that," said Caldwell Butler. "It was his crowning achievement."
Caldwell Butler said he got to see his brother twice while he was in the hospital and that they talked about how there was no history of heart problems in their family.
"But we knew he'd done some damage to his heart. I really thought that he was going to come out of this thing, though," Caldwell Butler said. "It's been a real shock for us all; but if he was going to be inhibited by his health, I don't think he would have liked that."
"Bill just had so many interests and so much energy. I never could understand how he could do so many things and still make a living, but he did," Caldwell Butler said.
He is also survived by his wife, Claire Titus Butler; two sons, Dr. William W.S. Butler IV and Dr. John Marshall Butler Sr., both of Roanoke; a daughter, Mery Claire Butler Little of Lakeland, Fla.; and seven grandchildren.
The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. John's Episcopal Church, Roanoke.
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