William R. Harden

Bill Harden was born on October 19, 1947 to William Richard 'Dick' Harden and Mary Louise Harden (nee Mueller) in Saginaw, MI. 

Bill attended public school for the first few years of elementary school, then St. Helen's school and St. Andrew's High school in Saginaw, graduating in 1965. He attended Central Michigan University for his undergraduate degree in economics. He met his first wife, Jean, there, and the couple married when Bill was 21 and Jean 20.

One of Bill's proudest memories was attending the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He attained a Master's degree in History, and later, a Master's in Library Science. After hearing from professors how academia was changing in the early 1970's, he switched his focus to Library Science.

Bill and Jean moved to Cleveland in the mid-1970s, with Bill continuing his education at Case Western Reserve University, where he was employed by the Sears Library. He was all but done with his dissertation in Library and Information Science but abandoned his dissertation because he realized the rise of computers would forever change how people search for information.

In 1977, they bought a house in Shaker Heights. Bill applied for a job at an information company located in University Circle called Predicasts. Although Bill's first marriage crumbled, he met Mary Anne while working at Predicasts. Mary Anne and Bill were married in June 1982. Bill later pursued a Master's in Business Administration from John Carroll University.

Changes at Predicasts led to Mary Anne's layoff in 1983, then Bill's in 1984. Mary Anne vividly recalls the day in October when Bill came home early, having been laid off; it was the same day she learned she was pregnant with their first child, Andrew.

Andrew was born in May of 1985. Matthew was born in July of 1989.

Bill parlayed analytical skills learned from writing market studies for Predicasts into jobs with several banks, first AmeriTrust, then Society Bank.

Son Andrew benefitted from Mary Anne's unemployment for eleven months. Bill worked at the bank by day and wrote market studies for Freedonia Group by night. Mary Anne went back to work for Predicasts. Life was hectic with two full-time working parents, excepting for the various layoffs, and two growing boys. School, basketball, soccer, Cub Scouts. A blur.

After a two-year layoff, Bill began to work at Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority in August, 1995, working there for 19 years before retiring in 2014. His responsibilities grew to include budgeting for the program formerly known as Section 8, now the voucher program. He was proud to be so involved in a program which helped low-income people pay for housing and utilities. For him, it was a mission.

Bill normally read nonfiction and history. He was passionate about college football, especially the fortunes of his beloved Wolverines. He enjoyed watching many movies. Bill liked different kinds of music and frequently watched concerts on DVD.

Bill was proud of his sons. For a time Andrew worked at Apple Computer as a Genius. He later worked for the local company Overdrive, which makes software for people to download library books to their personal reading devices. Andrew is now with Progressive Insurance. Matt put himself through journalism school at Arizona State University's Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and has, so far, won two Emmy's for his photojournalism at KCRA in Sacramento.

Bill became ill in January 2024, with a diagnosis of colon cancer and dementia. He was in a nursing care facility since March and entered hospice one week before he died, on October 3, 2024, just shy of his 77th birthday. Funeral Mass to be held at Saint Dominic’s Catholic Church on October 25, 2024. He was survived by his sister Cathy, of Michigan; wife of 42 years, Mary Anne (Huth) Harden, his two sons, Andrew and Matthew, and one grandchild, Adrian Harden (son of Andrew.)