Bill McCann was a giant of KY law, education and public service
I fear that some of the men and women who, in the last three decades of the twentieth century, so profoundly and positively shaped the character and texture of our community have ultimately outlived the memory of their greatest achievements; they pass out of this life with their contributions insufficiently commemorated.
I would like to pay tribute to one of Lexington’s most respected leaders of that period.
Bill McCann was a big man. You knew it the moment you met him. His commanding frame, his resonating masculine voice, his direct phrasing and his confident manner made you know that here was a man who could make things move.
Bill was a born lawyer: persuasive, clever and strategic. A graduate of the UK College of Law, he clerked for Bert Combs on Kentucky’s highest court. Throughout a distinguished career with his own firm and with Wyatt, Tarrant and Combs, then the largest law firm in Kentucky, Bill was a civil litigator of the top shelf, an elected fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers.
But Bill’s most enduring contributions were his services to Lexington and to the cause of better education. Following his election to the Kentucky legislature in 1970, Bill succeeded against considerable odds in passing the Peak-McCann Bill. It authorized the merger of our city and county governments, thereby initiating one of the most successful developments in American local government in the second half of the last century.
Serving next as vice-chairman of the merger commission, Bill helped author the new government’s charter; he then served on its urban county council. Always an advocate for equality of treatment and fair play, Bill was an early activist and charter member of the Lexington Human Rights Commission. He was a valued and enthusiastic leader in community and charitable groups too numerous to mention. For his long tenure of community leadership, generosity and statesmanship, the Lexington YMCA recognized Bill with its most prestigious commendation, the Order of the Red Triangle.
But Bill’s lifelong passion was for education, especially in helping children with learning disabilities and in shaping the landscape of higher education in Kentucky. As chairman of the legislature’s education committee, Bill guided the creation of KCTCS, the founding of Northern Kentucky University and the state’s acquisition of the University of Louisville. He later served eight years on the Council on Higher Education, three as its chairman. And after serving on the Prichard Committee for three decades, including three years as chairman, the Committee honored Bill in 2016 as an emeritus board member.
Driven by a passion for unlocking the potential of children with learning disabilities, Bill became the first President of the Fund for Perceptually Handicapped Children which, with the Fayette County Schools and the UK College of Education, piloted Kentucky’s first public school program for children with disabilities. Bill later guided the work of the Kentucky Association for Children with Learning Disabilities as its chairman.
In all of his work, Bill was skillful and intelligent, but these assets came wrapped up in such a magnificent human package of compassion, charm, humility, sincerity, humor and, most of all, bedrock integrity. These were the key ingredients of his effectiveness.
I took great inspiration from Bill, but I was not alone; Bill had many admirers among the young lawyers of my generation. He was one of the finest men I ever knew, and I was lucky beyond words to be among the many within the wide orbit of his positive influence.
I regret that the pandemic has denied all of us the opportunity to celebrate collectively the lives of the people we admire, leaving a sense of incompleteness. This much is certain: Lexington is a better place because of the life, work and loving guidance of a truly great man, Bill McCann.
Bradford L. (Brad) Cowgill is a Lexington attorney with diverse experiences in legal, governmental, business and civic affairs.