William Sterling (Bill) Hackmann of Elsberry, Missouri, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 31, 2024, sur­rounded by loving family members and friends. He is survived by his loving wife of 51 years, Kathy Hackmann (nee Petitt), his older brother Frank (Susan) Hackmann of Clayton, Missouri, and his older brother John Morrow Hackmann of Palo Alto, California. He is also survived by nieces and nephews Emily (Rob) Whitney, Fred (Brett) Hackmann, Meredith (Justin) Harris, and Rich­ard (Julia) Hackmann, as well as six great nieces and numerous cousins.
 Bill was born in St Louis, Missouri, to Ster­ling W Hackmann and Mary Elizabeth Morrow (Betty) Hackmann who both predeceased him.
 He grew up in East St Louis, Illinois, and later Belleville, Illinois, where he attended first Signal Hill Grade School, and later Belleville Township High School West. From there he went to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign where he met Kathy and where he earned a Bach­elor of Science degree in mathematics/computer science with high honors and distinction as well as a Master of Science de­gree.
 Bill then went to work as a computer program­mer at the A G Becker brokerage firm in Chi­cago, Illinois, where he worked with Myron Scholes as Scholes helped to develop the concept of the index fund for the stock market. After leav­ing Becker, Bill joined IBM in the San Francisco Bay or Silicon Valley area as both a computer programmer and a tech­nical support specialist on a variety of significant products. He later joined Edward Jones in St Louis in information systems and provided support to the many separate office locations of Edward Jones. Bill also provided computer programming consulting services to Ralston Purina’s pet food manufacturing oper­ations.
 Bill and Kathy were long time residents of Lincoln County, Mis­souri.
 Bill was a devoted son, a wonderful brother, a loving and caring hus­band, and a beloved uncle to his four nieces and nephews and his six great nieces. He and Kathy could always be counted on to select just the right adventure to entertain the nieces, nephews, and great nieces.
 Bill was a long-time member of Dardenne Presbyterian Church.
 Bill enjoyed cooking and experimenting with new recipes. He was also a very talented photogra­pher, a long-time hobby which was sparked by be­ing a photographer for both his high school year­book and newspaper.
 Bill and Kathy owned and loved many dogs over the years. He and Kathy enjoyed dog training and showed sev­eral of their dogs. They were also active in dog rescue in Northern California and Missouri.
 Bill was especially proud of his silver buckle earned for showing his Arabian horse in Califor­nia in the Western Plea­sure and Trail Class.
 There will be a celebration of life service in the Spring of 2025 at a time and place to be determined.
 Memorial contributions can be made to the Signal Hill Education Founda­tion, the Dardenne Pres­byterian Church, the Morris Animal Founda­tion, the Joseph R. Palmer Family Memorial Library in Elsberry, Mis­souri, or a charity of the donor’s choice.