Dr. William Edward Spriggs

SPRIGGS, Dr. William Edward - Age 68, passed away Tuesday, June 6, 2023, in Grant Falls, VA. Family hour 10:00 AM Saturday, June 17, 2023, from Bethel United Methodist Church, 1309 N Ballenger Hwy, Flint, MI 48504. with funeral service commencing at 11:00 am. Interment, Sunset Hills Cemetery, G-4413 Flushing Rd. Friends and pallbearers will assemble at the church 10:00 AM Saturday, June 17, 2023. Dr. Spriggs will lie in state in the Chapel of Lawrence E. Moon Funeral Home and may be viewed from 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM Friday, June 16, 2023. William Edward Spriggs “Bill” was born in Washington, D.C. on April 8, 1955. He was the son of Dr. Thurman E. Spriggs and Julienne (Henderson) Spriggs. Bill’s father was a Tuskegee Airman who later became a physics professor who taught at Howard University and Norfolk State University. Bill’s mother was a schoolteacher. He met Jennifer Dover at the University of Wisconsin where they were both graduate students. They married in 1985 and have one son, William Thurman. Bill graduated in 1977 from Williams College in Massachusetts with a Bachelor Degree in Economics and Political Science. In 1984, he received a PhD in Economics from the University of Wisconsin. Bill was a Professor of Economics at Howard University and served as the Chair of Howard’s Economics Department for many years. Since 2012, He has also served as the Chief Economist for the AFL-CIO. In 2009, Bill was nominated by President Barak Obama to become Assistant Secretary for the Office of Policy at the U.S. Department of Labor. He has also worked at the Economic Policy Institute and served as the Executive Director of the National Urban League’s Institute for Opportunity and Equality. Bill was a Senior Adviser to the Office of Government Contracting and Minority Business Development at the U.S. Small Business Administration and served as Senior Adviser and Economist to the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Joint Economic Committee for the U.S. Congress. Bill also served as the Director of the National Commission for Employment Policy. He began his teaching career as an Assistant Professor at North Carolina A & T State University and he also taught at Norfolk State University. Bill was committed to employing his talents at historically Black institutions. As noted by the New York Times, a topic that Bill “came back to most frequently, and spoke most passionately about, was that of racial disparities in the labor market.” He fought tirelessly for racial and economic justice. Over the years, Bill received many awards including the Robert M. Ball Award by the National Academy of Social Insurance, the Benjamin L. Hooks “Keeper of the Flame” Award by the NAACP, the Bicentennial Award from Williams College, the Chairman’s Award by the Congressional Black Caucus, and he received a National Economics Association Dissertation Award. In his free time, Bill loved to cook, travel, and listen to old-time radio shows. Bill was a skilled genealogist and was proud of the family trees he was able to prepare. He was pleased that through genealogy, he (and his mother’s family), were able to reconnect with long lost relatives from Madagascar (the country of his maternal grandfather’s birth). Bill leaves to cherish his memory: wife, Jennifer Dover Spriggs; son, William Thurman Spriggs of Great Falls, Virginia; 2 sisters, Patricia Spriggs of Southfield, Michigan and Karen (Michael) Baldwin of Angleton, Texas; mother-in-law, Dorothy Flippen; brother-in-law, Donald (May) Dover of Flint, Michigan; sister-in-law, Lillie Dover of Grand Blanc, Michigan; 2 nephews, Elliott (Marian) Dover of Prosper, Texas and Joseph L. Baldwin of Angleton, Texas; 3 nieces, Angela (Anthony) Nunn of Sterling Heights, Michigan, Taryn (Jimmie) Dover-Kaufmann of Frazier, Michigan and Rosezetta P. Baldwin of Houston, Texas; a host of cousins, other relatives, and friends. Bill was preceded in death by his father, Thurman E. Spriggs; mother, Julienne (Henderson) Spriggs; grandparents, William E. Spriggs and Ruth (Maxfield) Spriggs, Joseph P. Henderson and Clara (Hendricks) Henderson; aunts and uncles, Henry W. Spriggs, Garland M. Spriggs, Ruth E. Turner, Lacey D. Spriggs, Edith L. Roberson, Joseph Henderson Jr, Helen H. McMurray, Nero Henderson, Felicia Henderson, Clara H. Andrews and Ivana H. Terry; fathers-in law, James T. Dover, Jr. and William S. Flippen; brother-in-law, James T. Dover III; and nephew, Donald Halford Dover.

Dr. William Edward Spriggs

April 8, 1955 - June 6, 2023