In Memoriam: Bill Ives

TROY, Mich. — H. William (Bill) Ives, former president of family-owned Rose Pest Solutions, the nation’s oldest pest control company, passed away in Sarasota, Fla., on Dec. 3, after a long illness. He was 86.

Ives spent 43 years at Rose Pest Solutions, building the business into one of the largest regional pest control companies serving the Great Lakes area, before handing the reins over to his son, Russ Ives, the company’s current president. In 1978, he served as the president of the National Pest Control Association, a national trade organization. 

He was a distinguished Rotary leader for most of his adult life. He served as President of the Detroit Rotary Club and subsequently District Governor of District 640, an international district with clubs in Canada and southeastern Michigan. He was appointed Trustee of the Rotary Foundation and then elected Director of Rotary International. He represented North America on the International Campaign Committee, which planned and oversaw the fund-raising activity of the Rotary’s polio eradication effort, Polio Plus. He received numerous award for his service to the Rotary and the Polio Plus program. 

Ives was born in Chicago and grew up in Detroit where he met his late wife Mary Louise, to whom he was married 51 years. He lived in Bloomfield Hills and Dearborn before retiring to Sarasota. He married Marilyn Plummer in 2004, with whom he spent the remaining 14 years of his life. 

Ives attended Detroit Public Schools and Cranbrook School. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kalamazoo College and a Master of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin. 

Beside his Rotary involvement, Ives was also active in a number of other civic organizations including the Metropolitan Detroit YMCA; the Detroit Osteopathic Hospital; the Detroit Science Center; and the Michigan Committee on Volunteerism. He was active in the Birmingham First United Methodist Church since 1952 and taught Sunday school as well as other youth leadership activities. Upon moving to Sarasota, he became active at the First United Methodist Church of Sarasota, and taught classes there as well. 

Ives was widely known for skills as a singer and song leader and lent these skills to his activities in the Rotary regularly and was honored with the opportunity to sing the national anthem at a Detroit Lions game.

He was even more acclaimed as a speaker in the Rotary world, where he addressed audiences worldwide. He has appeared as a featured speaker at leadership conferences and spoke at numerous Rotary Club and Foundation dinners across the United States, largely to garner support for polio eradication efforts. 

Ives is survived by his wife, Marilyn and his four children: H. Russell (Susan) Ives; Catherine (Rodney) Jones; James R. (Diane) Ives; and Carolyn Ives. He is also survived by 10 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. 

The family suggests memorial donations to The Rotary International Foundation, One Rotary Center, 150 Sherman Ave., Evanston, IL 60201 or Detroit Rotary Foundation, P.O. Box 309, Troy, MI, 48099.