William John Ash

SALISBURY ­— William John Ash, 92, died June 17, 2008. He was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on May 2, 1916.

He was raised in Newark, East Orange and Ridgewood, N.J. He attended Lehigh University, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial engineering in 1937.

 Mr. Ash was the husband of Jean-Ellen Burns, whom he married in 1937, and who predeceased him. She was in the class of 1937 at Skidmore College.

Upon graduation, he worked for five years at the U.S. Gypsum Company in Philadelphia, Pa.; he transferred to the Falls Village plant in 1942. He resigned from U.S. Gypsum in 1943 and went to the New England Lime Company, which had two plants, one in Adams, Mass., and one in North Canaan. The North Canaan plant was the major supplier to the Atomic Energy Commission of magnesium and calcium.

In 1961, the New England Lime Company was bought by Pfizer, Inc. At that time, Mr. Ash was president of New England Lime Company and NELCO Metals. In 1969 he retired.

He was director of several local charities and committees, including the Salisbury Association, Sharon Creative Arts Foundation and the Bissell Fund. He was, at various times, a member of the Salisbury Planning and Zoning Commission and the Salisbury Zoning Board of Appeals.

Mr. Ash was a director of the National Lime Association in Washington, D.C.,  for 14 years and served two terms as its chairman. He was a founding director of the Naugatuck Valley Industrial Council in Waterbury.

He went fly fishing for Atlantic salmon in Quebec and Newfoundland, Canada, and was a member of the Atlantic Salmon Association in Montreal. From 1974 to 1998, he and his wife wintered in Islamorada in the Florida Keys.

Since 1999, he and his wife resided at Noble Horizons.

The Newkirk Palmer Funeral Home has charge of arrangements.