William Kane Death, Obituary – We are deeply saddened to inform you that William Kane Lavin (also known as “Bill”), who resided in Belle Harbor, New York, passed away on Monday, December 5, 2022. Bill passed away in the presence of his cherished seven children and wife of six years when they were all there. On September 23, 1944, Bill Lavin joined his parents, Thomas and Agnes, in the world in Brooklyn, New York. Bill, the second of his parents’ nine children, went to school in the St. Vincent Ferrer parish and went to Xavierian High School and St. John’s University,
where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965 and an Honorary Doctor of Commercial Science in 1992. Everyone who knew Bill describes him as a modest man who valued his family and faith and who was the epitome of a gentleman. Despite this, his achievements in the professional world, as well as his contributions to both his society and the Catholic Church, are incalculable. Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Company was where Bill started his career as a certified public accountant (now KPMG). He continued his career by becoming a senior financial manager at both the Kennilworth Management Company and the J.C. Penney Company.
After that, in 1981, he accepted a position as Controller at the F.W. Woolworth Company, where he worked his way up to Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer before finally retiring in 1994. In addition to being a Director of the National Retail Foundation and a member of the CFO Advisory Committee of the F.E.I., he was a member of the Finance Executive Institute, the American Management Association, and the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. After retiring from Woolworth’s, Bill continued his career as a management consultant and board member for a variety of corporations,
including Wall Street Access and Alleghany Corporation, from 1994 until 2021. During that time, he also held the position of Chairman of Audit Committee for both of those companies. In addition to his work in the business world, Bill served on the boards of directors of a number of charitable organizations, including HeartShare Human Services, where he held the position of Chairman of the Board;