William F. Eckman

William F. "Bill" Eckman, La Plata's longest-serving mayor and a steadfast firefighter, teacher, and neighbor, died on 16 September 2026 at the age of 96. Arrangements are being handled by Arehart-Echols Funeral Home in La Plata. The Town of La Plata lowered its flag to half-staff in his honor, with Mayor Jeannine James saying it would remain there until his interment.

Born on 16 February 1930, Eckman came to Southern Maryland in 1966 when AT&T transferred him from Pennsylvania, where he had already served as a fire chief. A Navy veteran, he soon made La Plata his lifelong home. In 1969 he joined the La Plata Volunteer Fire Department, beginning a life of service that would touch nearly every corner of the town. He served as department president in 1973, 1974, 1976, and 1977, and as deputy fire chief in 1974. He became a life member and later helped design apparatus including Tanker 1. For more than thirty years he taught for the Maryland Fire and Rescue Institute at the University of Maryland, writing pumps training materials and leading regional water-supply drills that strengthened firefighters across Southern Maryland. As a water-supply consultant he worked with departments along the East Coast and contributed to the 1995 Charles County Water Supply Study. After retiring from AT&T he wrote a book on fire protection and water supply, continuing to share hard-won knowledge with a new generation.

Civic life drew him just as strongly. Elected to the La Plata Town Council in 1969, he lost a race in 1979, returned in 1981, and in 1983 became mayor. He held the office until 2005, a twenty-two-year tenure unmatched in the town's modern history. Under his leadership La Plata grew from under two thousand residents to nearly eight thousand, and town staff expanded from about fifteen to fifty. He served as president of the Maryland Municipal League around 1995-96 and later sat on its legislative committee, regularly testifying before the General Assembly.

His leadership was tested most severely on 28 April 2002, when an F4 tornado tore through La Plata, killing three people and injuring 122 across Maryland and causing more than $100 million in damage. Town leaders later said the long-range vision he had helped establish before the storm gave the community a framework for rebuilding. The rebuilt Town Hall became Southern Maryland's first LEED-certified public building. Eckman wrote his own account of the recovery in After the Storm Passed By.

Leaving office in 2005 did not end his service. He kept mentoring staff and leaders on planning, water, sewer, stormwater, and infrastructure. Mayor James, who called him a mentor who laid foundations for those who followed, summed up the town's affection in a simple line: "Once a Mayor, always a Mayor." Scott Hancock and other town voices joined the La Plata Volunteer Fire Department in mourning a past president, past deputy chief, life member, and lifelong teacher of the craft. Bill Eckman leaves a town that is larger, safer, and more resilient because he stayed, taught, and rebuilt.