William F. McNally
1919 - 2012
William F McNally was born in 1919 in Taymouth Township. The youngest of three children of Frederick and Lena McNally, Bill attended Saginaw High School and in 1942 was a proud graduate of University of Michigan School of Engineering, majoring in aeronautical engineering. Unable to serve in World War II due to the lingering effects of scarlet fever, he went to work for Ford and later General Motors, two of the largest military contractors in the world at that time.
Following the war, Bill started the McNally-Davis company, which eventually became the W.F. McNally Company, focusing on building roads in Saginaw and Frankenmuth, as well as state highway projects. In 1954, Bill partnered with Bob Nimergood renting cranes, and McNally-Nimergood was soon providing crane rentals across the US and abroad.
Bill served on the boards of Concordia Seminary Board of Regents, Covenant Healthcare Foundation, Bridgeport Spaulding School Board, and Michigan National Bank. Active in many philanthropic and community causes, he served as president of the Frank N. Andersen Foundation and president of Faith Lutheran Church.
Establishing the William F. McNally Family Foundation with his wife in 1982, he quietly supported many local causes: local schools and universities, the Saginaw Children’s Zoo, the Mid-Michigan Children’s Museum, The Marshall M. Frederick Sculpture Museum, Special Olympics, the Old Town and East Side Soup Kitchens, the Saginaw County Rail Trail, the Boy Scouts of America. He was instrumental in the construction of the Frank N. Andersen Recreation Complex, a barrier-free facility for children with disabilities.
The healthcare of children was of great importance to Bill, which lead to him being instrumental in the raising of funds for the Margaret McNally Pediatric unit at Covenant Hospital, and eventually establishing the William F. McNally Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. In addition, Bill created the McNally Hospitality House to ease the burden for families of patients at any of the hospitals in Saginaw.
A boy scout himself, Bill was honored by the Boy Scouts in 2008 with their Distinguished Citizen Award. In addition, he was named as a 2009 Child Advocate of the CAN Council, and was voted into the Junior Achievement Business Hall of Fame in 2011.
Bill died in 2012 in Bridgeport, Michigan at the age of 93.