IN MEMORIAM: Bill Spitz

Bill Spitz

Bill Spitz, a member of the Pest Management Professional (PMP) Hall of Fame (Class of 2006), passed away Feb. 14 at age 95.

As noted in his Hall of Fame profile, Spitz championed the industry in a number of ways, including:

• Buying a dilapidated, one-man operation in Houston, Texas, in 1950 and turning it into a 100-person firm by the time he sold Big State Pest Control to Waste Management in 1988.
• Serving as the National Pest Control (now Management) Association’s president from 1971-72. (Check out PMP’s October 2020 “Look Back” column, which details the national conference over which he presided and includes a link to a PDF of the original November 1971 article.)
• Creating the association’s Public Education Program, or PEP, which is a legacy program for the Professional Pest Management Alliance.
• Developing a new method of treating for termites by drilling into building slabs, as reported by PMP (then known as Pest Control) in 1958.
• Becoming one of the first pest management professionals to use termite-sniffing dogs in inspections.
• Co-founding Silver Fox Advisors years after retirement, to share his mentoring skills and business acumen with not only business owners, but to help rehabilitate prisoners and others less fortunate.

Spitz leaves behind four sons and their wives: Clay and Ronna, Lee and Jill, Nelson and Tracey, and Jon and Julie as well as nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. His wife, Joan, predeceased him.

Memorial donations may be made to the Bill & Joan Spitz Presidential Leadership Fund at Congregation Emanu El in Houston, Texas.

The PMP staff offers its sincere condolences to Spitz’s family, friends and colleagues.