William R. Waters, 78, an economics professor emeritus at DePaul University and Lincoln Park community leader, died Monday of complications following surgery for lung cancer.

Professor Waters joined the faculty of DePaul University in 1950, where he was one of a group of economists who provided the university’s economics program with a uniquely Schumpeterian perspective that distinguished it among American institutions of higher education. He also founded much of the post-war economics program in DePaul’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

From 1966 to 1977, Waters served as head of the Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences at DePaul. He also was chairperson of the Economics Department from 1977 through 1983. In 1977, he formed DePaul’s Center for Economic Education and served as its director. From 1976 to 1985, he also served on the Executive Board, Board of Trustees of the Illinois Council of Economic Education.

Professor Waters was elected president of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) for DePaul in 1961, and in 1964 he served as chairperson and secretary for the Chicago Area Council of the AAUP. In 1988, he played an integral role in establishing the DePaul-Arthur Andersen & Co. program for teaching ethics in business programs.

"Professor Waters is remembered by his family, friends, and colleagues, as well as present and former students, as a noble and highly cultivated person of great intellect who always treated everyone with dignity, irrespective of their station in life," said DePaul Economics Professor Richard Wiltgen. "He was much loved and respected."

In 1990 Waters retired and became a Professor Emeritus but continued to teach part-time until the spring of 1998. DePaul honored Waters in 1990 with the Via Sapientiae, its highest award, for his numerous contributions to the university. The award stated that, throughout his career, Waters "impressed upon generations of students that economics is not the coldest of the social sciences, but rather a humanistic discipline, in which the dignity of the individual is paramount."

Waters was born on February 5, 1920 in Baltimore, Maryland where he spent his formative years. In 1942, he received a bachelor’s degree from Loyola College in Baltimore where he majored in history. Following his graduation, he entered the Army Air Corps, which sent him to Yale University. He served in the military from 1942 to 1946 and was stationed in Okinawa.

Following his discharge from the military, he enrolled in graduate programs at the University of Maryland, Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown University. In 1953, he received his Ph.D. degree in economics from Georgetown, where he wrote his doctoral dissertation on Joseph Schumpeter, the highly acclaimed Harvard economist.

Georgetown bestowed upon him membership in its Gold Key Society in 1952, the highest award that the university can bestow upon a student. During this period, he also was lecturer of economics, history and philosophy at Loyola College of Baltimore.

He married Regina Trimp and together they moved to Chicago in 1950. They made Lincoln Park their permanent home in 1958. From 1963 to 1966, he was vice president of the Lincoln Park Conservation Association and served as chairman of its planning committee. During 1967 to 73, he also served as secretary of the Lincoln Park Conservation Community Council, and from 1963 to 75 treasurer of the Lincoln Park Renewal Association. He served many local schools, especially St. Vincent’s Parish School where he was president of the school board from 1974 through 1975.

Professor Waters authored more than 30 articles in American and European journals. From 1965 to 1985, he served as editor-in-chief of the "Review of Social Economy." He was president of the Association for Social Economics in 1987. His achievements and receptiveness to divergent perspective were formally recognized with the publication of "Essays in Social Economics: A Tribute to William R. Waters," a book of essays written by other economists. A special issue of the Review of Social Economy was also dedicated to him.

Waters is survived by his wife, Regina, daughters Karen Bastaka, and Trish Waters, and sons Marc and Gerard, and four grandsons.

Visitation will be held at Cooney Funeral Home, 3552 N. Southport Ave., on Wednesday, Sept. 23, from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 24. A funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, Sept. 24, beginning at 11 a.m. at St. Vincent’s Church, 1010 W. Webster Ave. Interment will be in Baltimore.

Editor’s Note: For more information, call Gerard Waters at 773/248-2580.