William Robert Stead Sr.

William "Bill" Robert Stead Sr. of King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, died on Thursday, 3 September 2026, at his residence at the age of 80. He was born in Philadelphia on 7 April 1946, the son of William Folwell Stead and Letitia (Gorman) Stead.

Bill was a proud member of the Quaker City Yacht Club, the Brothers of the Third Wheel and the Blue Comet Motorcycle Club, affiliations that reflected a life spent among friends who shared his love of boating and motorcycles on the Delaware Valley waterways and roads. Those clubs, named in his family's notice, are the clearest public markers of how he spent time with companions outside the home, and they help explain why neighbors and clubmates may be searching for his name after his death.

He is survived by his loving partner Diane Nicholson; his son William R. Stead Jr. and daughter-in-law Barbara; three grandchildren, Mitchell Stead (partner Aprilles Darang), Rebecca "Becky" Gift (husband Nate) and Virginia "Ginny" Stead; four great-grandchildren, Dawson Gift, Sawyer Gift, Myles McConnon and Laney McConnon; and dear friends Joe Nelson and Melissa Shaffner, along with many other family members and friends who knew him through family gatherings and club life.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Virginia Mary (DePalma) Stead, who died of breast cancer in 1995, and by his half-sisters Jeanne and Geraldine. Funeral services were private at the family's request. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions were invited to the Parkinson's Foundation in Bill's memory or to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation in memory of his wife. Arrangements were by Bacchi Funeral Home and Crematory of Bridgeport, Pennsylvania.

He is not the Victorian journalist William Thomas Stead who died in the Titanic disaster of 1912; an incorrect Wikipedia link to that historical figure has been cleared from this memorial. This page records the King of Prussia family notice so searchers find the right person rather than a century-old public biography.

This memorial draws on the Bacchi Funeral Home / Legacy.com obituary (id 62357763). It records the verified dates, club memberships, survivors and memorial requests published by the family without inventing an occupation or public career beyond those affiliations, and it keeps the focus on the life his relatives chose to describe.