Gilbert William Runge Kingsbury Jr.

March 10, 1942 – March 10, 2021
(Bill, Dad, Poppy, Granddad)
Born in Covington, Kentucky on March 10, 1942 to Gil Kingsbury & Sylvia Phillips Kingsbury, he graduated from Beechwood High in Fort Mitchell and then Centre College of Kentucky with a degree in Economics. He received a Master of Urban and Regional Planning from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and attended the University of Kentucky College of Law.

Throughout his distinguished career, Bill Kingsbury left footprints across Kentucky, Colorado, and Georgia. He was called upon to initiate and lead public and private organizations to accomplish major projects aimed to improve communities and individuals. He always stood out with his unique knowledge and skills to assist communities and the private sector through establishing economically sound improvement programs for parks, industrial sites, resorts, hotels, airports, campgrounds, retail development, roadways, urban planning, site planning, development regulations, and housing. He was a leader in his church, served multiple years as President of Rivermist Homeowners Association in Lilburn, and just prior to his illness he served three years as President of Olde Hickory Village Homeowners Association. At the time of his death, Bill was Chairman of the Snellville Georgia Planning Commission, Secretary of the Snellville Downtown Development Authority, and the principal advisor to obtain an affordable senior housing development for Snellville United Methodist Church. A dear, loving, and gentle man, he had an unwavering deep faith, quiet strength, and love for God, family, friends, civic, community, and the ROMEOS. Wherever was his home, he was actively engaged.

Diagnosed with Triple Hit Diffuse Large B-Cell Non-Hodgins Lymphoma in 2016, Bill fought and won an incredibly difficult battle resulting in a bone marrow stem cell transplant in 2018. The ebb and flow of the threat of cancer’s return, the new diagnosis of an extremely rare blood disorder (Acquired Hemophilia A) in August 2021, heart failure, multiple hospitalizations, and a tragic fall on March 6 causing two brain bleeds that finally took their toll, and God took the wheel on the day of his 79th birthday. Throughout it all, his grace and determination never wavered.

He was preceded in death by his parents and his first love, Ann Adkins Kingsbury, whom he married in 1964. He is survived by his last love, Shaysha (Shirley) Davidson Kingsbury, whom he married in 2006, and their blended families: his daughter Beth Duncan (Eddie) of Charleston, SC, his son Mark Kingsbury (Nadeen) of Sydney, Australia, his stepson Lonnie Ford (Toody) of Jackson, MS, his stepdaughter Melanie Freeman of Snellville, GA, seven grandchildren (Rachel, Conor, Vera, Jessica, Emily, Allen, Michael) and 4 great-grands.

The family wishes to extend their gratitude to the Kaiser Foundation, Hemophilia of Georgia, the medical teams at Kaiser Permanente, Emory St. Joseph, Blood and Bone Marrow of GA, Emory Midtown, and especially, to Northside Gwinnett Trauma Center and Grady Trauma Center for all the emergency care provided during Bill’s final days. His birthday gift of sight to the Eye Bank Association of Georgia
will let life bloom for four recipients and research.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Snellville United Methodist Church on April 3 at 2:00 pm. Interment will follow in Conyers, GA, on Monday, April 5 at 1pm, at Honey Creek Woodlands located among the Monastery of the Holy Spirit’s 2,300 acres and adjacent to the 40,000-acre Arabia Mountain National Heritage Area.

Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society www.lls.org , Hemophilia of Georgia www.HoG.org , or to Snellville United Methodist Church www.snellvilleumc.org
.