William Marvin Alexander Jr., a guide and teacher to any who needed him, a bringer of joy and laughter to all who knew him, and a wanderer in search of the Holy, died on November 10, 2025, at the age of 83.

Bill was born in Knoxville, Tennessee on June 16, 1942 to parents William Alexander Sr. and Nell McLeod Alexander. He moved frequently in his childhood, following the burgeoning education career of his father, but he always came back to his extended family’s farm in Medon, Tennessee. It was here that he developed his love for wandering “round and about” with his Uncle Lacey – riding his beloved horse Whitey, checking on the crops, and looking to the horizon. Bill took on his cherished role of big brother at age 12, when the family welcomed their second son, Philip. As a teenager, influenced by his educator father and his own innate spiritual curiosity, “Billy” had dreams of becoming a minister. While his path quickly diverged, this initial dream informed much of the rest of his life.

Bill quickly came of age in Tennessee. He attended one year of college before he met and married Beverly Kay in 1962. He joined the United States Army in December of 1963, rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. He became a father when he and Beverly welcomed their daughter Kamala in 1964. The two separated a few years later, Bill’s active duty service in the Army ended 1966, and he was honorably discharged in 1970.

In the summer of 1967, Bill hitchhiked to San Francisco and joined thousands of other young Americans in what became known as the “Summer of Love”. Kind strangers gave him a place to stay on Haight-Ashbury while he deepened his love for music, watching regular performances of the Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane. As part of this community, he was introduced to Buddhism and began a journey of self-reflection and exploration that would last him the rest of his life, including treks to Bhutan and retreats to Plum Village, France.

Following his trip to San Francisco, Bill lived in New York City, where he began work as an actor and met Greta Laverne. Bill and Greta moved back to San Francisco together in 1972 and were married in 1974, giving Bill two stepchildren, David and Gia. While in San Francisco, Bill made his entrance into the literary world, working for several publishing companies. He could often be found sitting in his favorite rocking chair, surrounded by stacks of books.

Not long after separating from Greta in 1979, Bill moved back to New York City, where a community of peers in recovery helped him start what became 41 years of sobriety from alcohol and drugs. Many of these peers would stay his closest friends for the remainder of his life.

Bill met Pauline Cerf in 1986, and the two married in 1987. Bill became a loving stepfather for a second time, helping to raise Pauline’s children, Ed, John, and Liz. They welcomed their son Will in 1989, and the family moved to New Jersey in 1991. They spent their summers in upstate New York, where Bill entertained his larger extended family with magic tricks, inappropriate jokes, and taking the kids on his own version of “round and abouts” – aimless drives that almost always included ice cream.

In 1994, his journey of self-reflection led him to write his first book, A Man’s Book of the Spirit, a collection of daily affirmations, stories, and suggestions to help men who were otherwise berated with an onslaught of harmful ideologies on what it means to “be a man”. The following year, in a moment that would have made his teenage self proud, he was ordained as a part of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Core Community of the Order of Interbeing. His unique reflections on the intersection between recovery and spirituality combined with his humor and presence began to give him a national stage as a mentor for those struggling with addition. Writing was an important medium for him, and by 1997 he wrote two more books on these topics: A Father’s Book of the Spirit and Cool Water (later republished as Ordinary Recovery).

After separating from Pauline in 2000, Bill moved to Gainesville, Florida where he lived for several years while continuing to write and contributing in significant ways to the local recovery community. This work eventually led him to Minnesota and the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation, where he deepened his impact on those on their recovery journey. He also continued his own spiritual journey, becoming an oblate in the Order of St. Benedict at St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, Minnesota.

In 2014 he met Lenore Aaseng, who became his beloved for the remainder of his life. Bill and Lenore moved to Oregon in 2024 to be closer to Lenore’s daughter Danielle, son-in-law Calden, and grandson Owen. Bill quickly found a sense of home amidst Eugene’s natural beauty and population of fellow “aging hippies”. After a life of wandering, Bill felt as though he had found the place to spend his final years. Those years would be too few – Bill was soon diagnosed with dementia and later with lung cancer. Bill’s years of spirituality and self-reflection allowed him to quickly find peace with his condition, so he spent his last months focused on his loved ones, helping them to find peace in the inevitable, too. He often quoted a line from a Pogo cartoon he had seen as an 8-year-old back in Medon: “Don’t take life so serious, son. It ain’t no how permanent.”

Bill passed away on November 10, 2025, in Eugene, Oregon. He is survived by his partner Lenore, his brother Phil, and his children and stepchildren Will, Kamala, Ed, John, Liz, David, Gia, and Chris. A service will be arranged by the family in the spring of 2026.