William "Bill" Maksym

William Edward Maksym

William (Bill) Maksym was born in Freeport, New York on July 12,1957. He was the youngest son of the late Benjamin and Dolores Maksym and stepson of the late Ruth Maksym.

Bill attended Freeport High School and went on to graduate with an Associates Degree in Architectural Technology from SUNY Farmingdale. He had a strong work ethic, and from a young age, he sought opportunities to learn and grow. While cooking in seafood restaurants or building glass shelving for department stores all over the country, Bill always found time to further his education and perfect his drafting and computer skills. In 1987, he found his way to Vermont where he began his career in CAD design.

Bill held positions at engineering consulting firms in Chittenden County and was very proud to see his designs built around the community. Notably, Bill helped design the Burlington Bike Path, and numerous roadways and housing developments in the area. Later in life, he worked for several contractors at IBM Essex, doing facilities design during both IBM’s tenure at the site, and after it’s acquisition by GlobalFoundries.

In 1993, Bill met his beloved wife of 29 years, Martha (Campione). In 1996, they married, moved to Grand Isle, and quickly settled into their rural lifestyle. A son, Benjamin, was born in 1998, and the family was complete.

Bill found great joy and peace working on his property in Grand Isle: planting and tending to the vegetable gardens in the summer, cutting and splitting wood in the fall, and sugaring in the spring. To him, these were life-giving acts, solitary and deeply meaningful. He also loved to invent and create and had a reputation among his friends and family as someone who could fix anything or answer any question. “Just ask Bill” was a constant refrain. He always had a project: something to do, or make, or repair. In the off hours, he was a voracious reader, consuming biographies and non-fiction books on history and technology.

Retired in 2017, Bill spent his last years with his faithful black Labrador Retriever, Mellow, deeply content in the home he and Martha had created. He took immense pride in his son Ben's flourishing career as an actor, playwright and video-game developer.

A quiet and private man to the end, Bill died on July 11, 2025, surrounded by those he loved, after a courageous battle with neuroendocrine cancer. He was buried on July 15th in the Grand Isle Cemetery.

In addition to Martha and Ben, Bill is survived by brothers Richard and wife Pam, and Tom and wife Linda. He is also survived by step-siblings, Neil (Clare), Brian and Jack (Barbara) Toohey and Ellen (Chuck) Johnston and Martha's sisters, Annis Campione, Cathy (Joel) Stein and Christine Collins. He also leaves many cherished nieces and nephews. His quiet humor, steadfast loyalty to his family, and constant curiosity and interest in the natural world around him will be deeply missed by us all.

Bill’s family has asked that any donations in his memory be directed to the Champlain Islands Food Shelf, whose mission is one that Martha and Bill hold very dear: https://www.champlainislandsfoodshelf.org/donate-now