William Feiereisen

MADISON- William J. (Bill) Feiereisen passed away May 9, 2015, after a year-long battle with cancer. He was 94 years old.

Bill was born in West Bend, Wisconsin, October 22, 1920, but lived much of his life in Madison. On July 20, 1946 he married our mother, Margaret Mary Hogan, in Racine, Wisconsin and was together with her for 53 happy years until her death in 1999.

Bill was a great fan of the music of the Big Band era, and was himself, a drummer in the American Legion band with which he toured to the east and west coasts before World War II. After high school in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin he attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating as a mechanical engineer in 1942 and immediately entered the US Navy and WWII as an electronics technician servicing that new technology of the time, radar.

He settled back into Madison with our Mother and joined the Mechanical Engineering Faculty of the University of Wisconsin, rising to the rank of full professor where he worked until his retirement in 1994. Five children with our loving Mother began to come starting in 1952.

At the UW he worked in the fields of fluid mechanics, thermal energy conversion and turbo-machinery. Bill was known for his teaching. We heard stories from many former (fellow) students about the clarity and quality of his work and he was rewarded on numerous occasions with teaching awards as voted by faculty and students.

Always open to new things, he decided in the early 60s that he needed to complete a Doctorate. Over the course of two years away from Madison and much hard work in between his teaching duties he completed a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University in 1970.

Bill was always very devoted to engineering education. This included more than just the University of Wisconsin. He participated in a number of foreign aid programs sponsored by the United States Aid for Independent Development program and traveled extensively to India and Indonesia to assist in the construction of teaching laboratories at their universities.

This travel fit quite well with his general love of world travel and was able to fit in many side trips to Europe with our Mother, especially to Germany of which he was especially fond.

The last twenty years since his retirement have been quieter, enjoying the time with, and love of our mother and the visits of his many scattered children. He is survived by his brother Jim of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, son Bill Jr. and Annette Feiereisen-Mettraux of Santa Fe, New Mexico, daughter Mary and Mike Marriock of Saratoga, California, son Tom and Harma Drenth of Boulder, Colorado, son Bob of Madison, Wisconsin and son John and Lisa Feiereisen of South Windsor, Connecticut as well as Tom and Harma's son, Erik, and John and Lisa's daughters, Anna, Laura and Olivia.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at OUR LADY QUEEN OF PEACE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 401 S. Owen Dr., Madison, on Friday, May 15, 2015, at 11:00 a.m. with Msgr. Kenneth J. Fiedler presiding. A visitation will be held at church on Friday from 10:00 am until the time of the Mass. He will be buried next to our mother at Saint Peter's Cemetery in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin.




Cress Funeral & Cremation Services
3610 Speedway Road, Madison
(608) 238-3434