William (Bill) VanSanten, Jr. was born in the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago's south side on August 5, 1939.

Bill's family relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota, soon after, where he spent his formative years and graduated from Southwest High School in 1957. Bill graduated from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) four years later with a degree in Chemical Engineering. He met his wife Mary (Gambell) during the summer while on break from college - they married after his graduation and moved to Alexandria, Virginia, where Bill attended George Washington Law School while working as a Patent Examiner at the US Patent & Trademark Office.

Upon graduating from law school, Bill & Mary returned to the Chicago area, where Bill joined an Intellectual Property law firm. He was a brilliant Patent Attorney, was admitted before the US Supreme Court, and ultimately retired as a "Name Partner" for the firm - at that time known as Wood, Phillips, VanSanten, Clark & Mortimer.

Bill was a strong supporter of his Alma Mater (IIT) where he served several years on the Board of Trustees - and also endowed a scholarship in the name of his parents. Bill & Mary settled in Batavia, Illinois, in 1967 and had two sons - John & Ken. Bill was very active in the community, serving on the Batavia Jaycees and Batavia Planning Commission. He was also a long-term member of Bethany Lutheran Church, where he and Mary both sang in the choir, and Bill served as President of the Church Council. Bill and Mary relocated to Marco Island, Florida, upon retirement but maintained very strong ties to friends and family in the Batavia area.

After Mary's untimely death in 2009, Bill was very lucky (for the second time in his life), to meet Claire Evans (from Dallas, PA) with whom he shared a wonderful life until his passing on June 18, 2022 - after a short battle with Lung Cancer.  Bill was a great husband and father, an avid outdoorsman (hunting & fishing), coached his son's hockey teams, loved skiing, golf, flying, and spending time with a great group of friends and family.

He was preceded in death by his parents Bill Sr. and Marian, his wife Mary, and his brother Stuart.

He is survived by his love Claire, his sons John (married to Siobhainn), Ken (married to Amy), his sister Lenore, and five grandchildren (Conor, Mairead, Jake, Jordyn, and Ruari).

Our family is immensely grateful to those who took the time to place a call or pen a letter to Bill after his diagnoses. He was profoundly touched by your concern; the bawdy jokes and re-telling of shared memories lifted his spirits in those dark days.

Memorials/donations can be made to The VanSanten Family Scholarship Fund at IIT, by mailing a check to Illinois Tech Advancement, 7565 Solution Center, Chicago, Illinois 60677-7005, and writing "Bill VanSanten" on the memo line. You can also make a charitable contribution to Pheasants Forever in Bill's name.