Category: 1962

Harry Sykes Cline died peacefully September 7, 2023. He was born August 14,1940 in Camden, South Carolina to Joseph Frederick Cline and Catherine Sykes Cline. The family moved to Stony Point, North Carolina in 1949.

Harry earned his Eagle Scout at age 15 and graduated from Stony Point High School in 1958. He attended Davidson College where he was the catcher on Davidson’s baseball team. He was named MVP in 1962 and was selected first team all-conference every year. He remained close to his teammates for the remainder of his life. He received the ROTC Distinguished Military Student Award, was the President of Sigma Chi fraternity and was VP of Davidson’s senior class. While at Davidson, Harry met Janie McMullen from Clearwater, Florida on a blind date. Janie was Davidson’s Sweetheart of Sigma Chi in 1962 and Harry’s fiance in 1965. After graduating from law school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Harry married Janie on his 25th birthday in 1965. She designed and created his gold wedding band by hand when she was a counselor at Camp Merrie Woode that summer.

The couple moved to Thomasville, North Carolina where Harry practiced law. Daughter Catherine Tweed Cline was born in 1967 before Harry left for Vietnam. Harry was a Captain in the 131st Aviation Company, US Army, and was awarded two bronze stars. After the war, the family lived in Asheville where Harry resumed his law practice and their son Harry Sykes Cline, Jr. (Skip) was born in 1969. They moved to Clearwater in 1971 when Harry joined McMullen, Everett, Logan, Marquardt & Cline where he practiced real estate and estate planning law. The firm merged with Macfarlane Ferguson in 1993 becoming McFarlane Ferguson & McMullen. Harry was a member of the firm for the remainder of his career and served as its Chairman in 2006 and 2007.

Community and charitable involvement were lifelong priorities for Harry. He served on the boards of the Greater Clearwater Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, The ARC Tampa Bay, Berkeley Preparatory School and the First National Bank of Clearwater. Harry was a member of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension and served on its Vestry. He was a member of the Clearwater Rotary Club, its President 1984-1985 and a Paul Harris Fellow. Harry was involved with the Florida Gulf Coast Art Center and served as President of its board in 1976 and 1986. He was a member of the Belleair Country Club, Carlouel Yacht Club (Commodore 1993), Casado Club, Old Edwards Club, Pelican Golf Club and Privateers.

Harry had a wide range of hobbies including painting with oils and watercolors, carving wooden duck decoys and beekeeping. The bees ’culture and their impact on Janie’s garden fascinated him. He harvested honey and bottled it in jars with labels he drew for Christmas presents. Harry loved the competition and camaraderie of golf and tennis and enjoyed spending time on the water with family and friends. Harry adored his three grandchildren and taught them baseball, golf, painting and hearts. His grandchildren cherished their time together including countless “spend the nights for no reason.”

Harry weathered strokes and the loss of his beloved Janie in 2020 but his courage, love of people and humor endured. He was truly grateful for Joann Dohme, Jesse Hallman, Shay McAuley, Shawnda Meeks, Jackie Richo, Kayla Seib, Shayna Suljic, Darlene Thomas, and Shaneka White. Teresa Kelly and Janica Van Brocklin also played a key role in his health and happiness.

Harry was predeceased by his wife and son, his parents and his brother Rick Cline. He is survived by his daughter Tweed Cline

Eckhard (Rick) and their children Carson, Sykes and Skip; his nieces Cindy Cline Reid, Anne Marie Cline Bergamini and nephew David Cline.

A memorial service is scheduled for 4 p.m., December 19 at Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 701 Orange Avenue, Clearwater, Florida. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Davidson College, the Skip Cline Young Leadership Society at Morton Plant Hospital or the charity of one’s choice.

William Rutherford “Bill” Sadler, 82, passed away peacefully at the University of North Carolina Hospice Home, Pittsboro, on April 12, 2023 after a brief battle with cancer. A longtime resident of New York City and Garrison, N.Y., he had been a resident in recent years of Galloway Ridge near Chapel Hill. His family was by his side.

Born in Little Rock, Ark., on May 9, 1940, Bill was educated in the wonderful public schools of his native city before moving on to Davidson College in North Carolina. After serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army in Germany, Bill continued his formal education as a Woodrow Wilson Scholar at Cornell University, after which he earned an MBA at Columbia University. A long career in investment research and management followed, beginning at Smith Barney & Co. His investment work carried him to Irving Trust Company, NSR Asset Management, which became Pine Tree Capital where he was president, and finally Lord Abbett & Co.

On a trip to Puerto Rico in 1968, Bill met his lifelong partner and later husband, William “Bill” Hicks, a pioneering New York theatrical and political fundraiser. They soon became known as “The Bills” and for their irrepressible, often devilish humor as well as active civic engagement. Both were devoted to their Black Labradors, Lola, Olive and Velma, affectionately called “The Girls.”

Bill Sadler’s mischievous smile and laughter at his own foibles will long be remembered. He often cited Hicks’s chiding him on lengthy correspondence. “What are you doing, writing another War and Peace?” Recipients relished the sequels. As they did the playful and occasionally acerbic wit that enlivened his commentary on the passing scene. He loved travel, which stimulated his curiosity and added to the considerable depth of his understanding of and thoughtful insights into history and politics. He was an unabashed Anglophile, who also loved his gardens.

After buying a home in Garrison in 1995, The Bills helped establish an endowment for supporting gymnastics at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, across the Hudson River, that today totals millions. Bill Sadler was also an active board member of the Desmond-Fish Public Library in Garrison where he chaired the Nominating Committee for several years. A longtime member of The First Presbyterian Church in the City of New York, he served on the Session and as president of the Board of Trustees and chair of the Investment Committee.

The Bills moved to the retirement community of Galloway Ridge in 2016. Bill Sadler soon became chairman of its Employee Scholarship Fund Committee, raising funds for employees to pursue higher education. In short order, the funds quadrupled. He was also active in the Chatham County Democratic Party, was a dedicated fundraiser for state offices, and was co-chair of the Galloway Ridge Villa Democrats, spearheading the group’s get-out-the-vote initiatives and happily achieving a turnout rate of 100 percent in his neighborhood.

Bill is survived by his nephew, Alfred G. Duncan III of Los Angeles, and his niece, Darrielle Duncan of Jacksonville, Fla. He was preceded in death by his beloved husband; his parents, Gladys McClain Sadler and William Harold Sadler; and his sister, Marilyn Sadler Duncan. At his express request, there will be no service. The family requests that any memorial donations be made to Guiding Eyes for the Blind, 611 Granite Springs Road, Yorktown Heights, N.Y. 10598 (800-942-0149) or to the Jim & Betsy Bryan Hospice Home of UNC Health Care, 100 Roundtree Way, Pittsboro, N.C. 27312 (984-215-2675).
Bill cherished this life and he wishes all a joyous life in their own days ahead.