William Gabriel “Bill” Mallon II of Charleston, South Carolina, an attorney and former longtime resident of Montclair who had a 40-year career in commercial banking, died at his home on Daniel Island on Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2023, surrounded by family and friends. He was 75.
Mr. Mallon was born in 1948 in Montclair, the son of Edward Mallon and Anne (McGeorge) Mallon.
He attended Edgemont Elementary School, graduated from St. Benedict’s Prep School in Newark in 1966 and received a degree from Boston College, where he was a political science major. He received his J.D. from the Fordham University School of Law.
Mr. Mallon brought his academic and legal talents to the banking world. During his career in commercial banking he worked at Chemical Bank (promoted to managing director at age 36), Mellon Bank (Pennsylvania), Shawmut Bank and Fleet Boston Bank.
He was a member of the board of directors at Chemical Bank and Mellon Bank, of the executive committee at Mellon and the management forum at Shawmut, where he was the chief credit officer. He was one of the four co-founders of New Star Financial Inc. in 2003 and helped take it public in 2006, where it traded on the NASDAQ exchange.
Mr. Mallon was active in civic affairs. He was an assistant scoutmaster in the Boy Scouts of America, having been an Eagle Scout himself, one of his proudest accomplishments. He was president of the parish council of his original parish church, Immaculate Conception. He was also on the board of directors of the New Community Foundation in Newark for 10 years, and was treasurer and finance chairman of Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts, for seven years.
Before his illness he was a volunteer at the USS Yorktown at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. As a devout Catholic he was a founding member of the Catholic Good Shepherd Club, where he worked as the treasurer, helping establish a Catholic church on Daniel Island.
Mr. Mallon declared that he lived in the four best towns in the world: Montclair, Concord, Charleston and Nantucket, Massachusetts. He found his passions in every town. He was a lover of nature and conservation and blessed to have a home on his cherished Nantucket, where he was a supporter of the Nantucket Conservation Foundation.
Books were his obsession, and he could never pass by an old bookstore or library. He was very well-read, and he could read, understand and retain like no other. He enjoyed and studied all the arts; music, artwork, museums and fine antiques were his loves.
Mr. Mallon could talk to anyone about anything. He was engaging and interesting, and his constant smile was contagious. When he shook your hand, you felt it.
He and his wife, Betsy, were both previously widowed. They were married at Stella Maris Catholic Church on Sullivan’s Island in 2006. They were active members of St. Clare of Assisi Parish, the Daniel Island Club and the Daniel Island community, which became his second family.
Mr. Mallon is survived by his wife of 17 years, Betsy Sarsfield; his siblings, Edward A. Mallon, Katherine M. Johnson (Zachary) and James C. Mallon (Gina); his children, William G. Mallon III (Adrienne), James E. Mallon (Alicia) and Kathryn “Casey” Lebel (Bryan); his stepchildren, Haley Harton (Will) and Brynne Sarsfield (Dylan), and nine grandchildren.
He was predeceased by his parents, his first wife, Mary (McDonough) Mallon, and his sisters, Margaret Grace, Mary Flate (Ray) and Caroline Harris (George).
A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at 11 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 6, at St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church, Daniel Island. Interment will be at St. Mary’s Cemetery, Nantucket, at a later date.
In lieu of flowers donations in Mr. Mallon’s name may be made to The Building Fund, St. Clare of Assisi Catholic Church, 225 Seven Farms Drive, Suite 100, Daniel Island, SC 29492 or to St. Benedict’s Preparatory School, 520 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, Newark, NJ 07102.
Arrangements were by Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home, 76 Park St.