RENTSCHLER, William Henry, a widely-published columnist, writer, author, entrepreneur, politician and civic leader, died on Sunday, 6 December 09, in his hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. He was 84. Born in Hamilton on 11 May 25, to Peter Earl Rentschler, a Hamilton industrialist and civic leader, and Barbara Schlosser Rentschler, Bill Rentschler was a lifelong Midwesterner who, after what he called an "ideal boyhood" in Hamilton, spent most of his adult life outside Chicago, in Lake Forest, Illinois. He eagerly returned to his roots almost a decade ago. A Princeton University graduate and editor of The Daily Princetonian, he subsequently joined the Navy. Rentschler has been a director or trustee of numerous organizations including the John Howard Association, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, The Economics Club of Chicago, Rockford College, and the Better Boys Foundation, among countless others. Rentschler was a two-time Republican U.S. Senate candidate, both in 1960 and 1970 and served as a special advisor to President Nixon's National Program for Voluntary Action in Washington, DC. Ultimately, Rentschler abandoned his moderate Republican roots to embrace the ideals of the Democratic Party. Rentschler's experience as a journalist and columnist include early jobs as a by-line reporter for the Minneapolis Star and Tribune and The Cincinnati Times-Star, a political writer for UPI, a columnist for the Hamilton Journal-News, the Chicago Sun-Times, The San Francisco Progress and others.. In addition to a Pulitzer nomination, he accumulated many honors for "exemplary journalism", including an "Ethics in Journalism" award at the Chicago Headline Club as well as an award for "Top U.S Columnist" in 1996 at the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. Rentschler wrote books ranging from inspirational musings to biography and anthologies of his countless columns on topics that included politics, history, human interest and unbridled opinion. Whatever the format, Rentschler was known and either revered or challenged for his candid, pull-no-punches editorializing. During his lifetime, after an early venture as president of the Martha Washington Candy Kitchens in Chicago, Rentschler ran a number of low-tech manufacturing companies in the South, aided by his son Peter, echoing his family's longtime roots in the iron casting industry at the Hamilton Foundry and Machine Company. Bill Rentschler had an easy smile and winning ways with people old and young, rich and poor, black and white. In his 84 years, he was acquainted with a staggering array of characters, from Presidents to toll both operators, television anchors to hot dog vendors - and he always knew their names. He was a devoted family man and community leader who instilled in his five children openness, tolerance and a sense of humor in the face of adversity. Married twice, he remained on good terms with his former spouses. Bill continued to enjoy close companionship and friendship in the final chapters of his life. He was predeceased by his younger brothers Peter Robert Rentschler of Hamilton and James Peter Rentschler of Cincinnati and by his cherished eldest daughter, Sarah Yorke Rentschler of Hudson, New York. He is survived by his first wife, the former Sylvia Gale Angevin (now Thompson) of Edgartown, Massachusetts; his second wife, the former Martha Guthrie Snowdon (now North) of Belvedere, California; his son, Peter Ferris Rentschler of Pensacola, Florida; daughters Mary Angevin Rentschler of Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts; Phoebe Rentschler Cole of Weston, Connecticut; Hope Rentschler Garbo of Ross, California and 9 adoring grandchildren: Christine Angevin Rentschler, Peter Gadsden Rentschler, William Christopher Rentschler, Sophie Angevin Cole, Albion Angevin Alley, Henry Walker Cole, Lucie Snowdon Garbo, Mason Henry Garbo and Bella Hanson Garbo.