Brewer And North Fort Myers, Fla - NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla., and BREWER - William Arthur Parker, 92, a member of the "Greatest Generation" passed away April 20, 2013, at Hope Hospice, Cape Coral, Fla., after a brief illness. His friends knew him as "Bill," or "Buddy." Bill was the son of Earl W. and Sarah G. (Boyle) Parker of Brewer.

As a young man he worked with his brother, Frank, now deceased; and sister, Sally (Ring), at their grandfather's lobster pound located in Searsport. Parker's Lobster Pound was Maine's first retail lobster pound long before lobster was a delicacy. Bill was a World War II veteran serving in the U.S Army, 1943-1946, in England. While serving, he met and soon married an English beauty from Manchester, Marian Ravenscroft. Bill and his bride settled in Bangor in 1945 and raised four sons, David, Jeffrey, Gregory and Jonathan. In 1964, Bill moved his family to southern Maine to start a food brokerage business, Parker-Tilton Inc. with a longtime business associate, Henry Tilton. He settled his family in Falmouth and opened an office in Portland. He helped grow the firm until his retirement in 1986. After retiring he pursued a lifelong dream of opening a bed and breakfast in Bar Mills. After Marian's passing, Bill moved to Florida and settled in North Fort Myers, Fla., where he had lived with his dear companion, Madeleine Tuffy. Bill enjoyed golf, traveling and celebrating life with his family and friends. Always kind and soft-spoken, he was much loved and will be greatly missed.

He was predeceased by his wife, Marian; and son, Gregory. He is survived by his sister, Sally; and three married sons and their spouses, David and Linda, Jeff and Carolyn and Jonathan and Cathy Parker. He was the proud grandfather of seven grandsons and three granddaughters that loved him dearly.