WATERTOWN, New York (WWNY) – William ‘Bill’ Chapin, a Watertown native with a lifetime of community and charity service, died Monday at age 78.
An obituary from Reed & Benoit Funeral Home says Chapin died in Fernandia Beach, Florida.
Chapin was the son of Richard Chapin, who invented a drip irrigation system for watering crops and plants, and founded Chapin Watermatics, a Watertown business which became Jain Irrigation Inc. in 2006.
Richard Chapin took what he knew about irrigation and began a Watertown-based charity, Chapin Living Waters, which provides drip irrigation systems to subsistence farmers in the developing world.
William Chapin began managing Chapin Watermatics during his senior year in college, and remained with the business until it was sold.
William Chapin’s list of charitable and community involvement is extensive: at the time of his death, he was the president of the board of Chapin Living Waters; he was the longest serving trustee of Watertown Savings Bank; he served for decades on the loan fund of the Christian and Missionary Alliance; he was a trustee of Nyack College for 10 years; his involvements at Parkside Bible Church, Deferiet Union Church, and the Village Church at Shell Point (Fort Myers, FL) “are too numerous to list,” according to his obituary.
Funeral arrangements are with Reed & Benoit Funeral Home. Read his full obituary here.
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