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In Memoriam
William Edward Endelman
May 10, 1948 - February 21, 2026
In the late evening of February 21, 2026, Bill Endelman passed away peacefully after a long and debilitating bout with lung disease. He is mourned and missed by many people.
Bill was born in New York City and grew up in Brooklyn and then Merrick, Long Island, where he attended Wellington C. Mepham High School. When he was 14, he discovered jazz at a small record store in Merrick. The old man who owned the store recommended to Bill his first jazz albums and this became a lifelong passion. Bill has always expressed his gratitude to this man whose name he didn’t even know.
In 1973, Bill graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Thus, a second passion developed, for the visual arts and building design. During his graduate school days, Bill met Dee Coletta who became Dee Endelman on October 14, 1973. Together they moved to San Francisco, beginning a lifetime of love, friendship, conversation and not a little head butting!
In 1988, with their four year old daughter Elise, the Endelmans moved from San Francisco to Seattle. Bill held various architectural management positions before finally opening his own consulting firm in 1995. Later, this firm became Endelman & Associates, which specialized in accessibility for the disabled. Bill was deeply committed to this field and to creating a warm and creative working environment for the Endelman & Associates staff.
After his retirement from the firm in 2019, Bill devoted himself to mentoring small business owners as a volunteer for SCORE. He only stopped this mentoring in late 2025 when his illness became so severe that he no longer had the energy to Zoom with his many clients.
Throughout his adult life, Bill built a fantastic stereo system, listening to many hours of jazz with friends at the Pacific Northwest Audio Society and with his wife at various local jazz clubs. They were regulars at Tula’s, before its closure, and at Jazz Alley.
He was a devoted father to Elise and grandfather to Mina Jo as well as a father figure to several of his nephews and others who counted on his practical advice. Bill was a man of strong and thoughtful opinions. His nephew Lee wrote recently, “…of all the people to sit around and be opinionated with, he has always been one of the most fun.”
He is survived by his wife Dee, his daughter Elise (Spencer) and granddaughter Mina Jo Spencer; his sister Janet Endelman and various in-laws, nieces and nephews, audio buddies and work colleagues, who treasure his memory which is a blessing to us all.
Anyone wishing to honor Bill’s memory may make donations to SCORE, Easterseals or the Seattle Repertory Jazz Orchestra.
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