William McTaggart, local business stalwart and father of Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, has passed away.
McTaggart, founder of Uncle Bill’s on Eastern Avenue, died at his home overnight on Sunday.
He was 87.
The Progressives party, which the younger McTaggart heads, announced the businessman’s passing in a statement Monday afternoon.
Describing the senior McTaggart as “a respected Caymanian entrepreneur best known for the business that he founded in October 1964,” the party said the “Progressives family is deeply saddened to learn of [his] passing”.
Uncle Bill’s was started by McTaggart in the old family house on Fort Street in George Town, which was located across from the Appleby Clifton House.
In a 2009 Cayman Compass profile marking his 45 years in business, the McTaggart family shared the story of the founding of Uncle Bill’s.
“When he invested his life savings in 20 gallons of paint, 10 windows and a Philip Morris distributorship, he never imagined that the business would one day be a leader in those fields.
“He later went into a full range of marine supplies, hardware and appliances. In 1980, Uncle Bill’s moved to 343 Eastern Avenue where they cater to the do-it-yourself enthusiast and the contractor,” the profile said.
A ‘true pillar of the community’ lost
Red Bay MP and former Premier Alden McLaughlin, who is also chairman of the Progressives party, said, like so many across the island, he too was saddened at the sudden passing of the senior McTaggart.
“I knew Uncle Bill my entire life. The McTaggart family resided on Crewe Road, where I grew up, and his son, Capt. Chris McTaggart and I went to school together,” he said in the Progressives’ statement.
“Today, Cayman has lost a true pillar of the community. He was a man who loved his country and people profoundly and contributed generously of his time and means to make the lives of others happier and better,” he said.
McTaggart, he said, was “one of that generation of iconic Caymanians whose entrepreneurial spirit and community-mindedness helped shape the Cayman we enjoy today”.
Recounting his memories of McTaggart, McLaughlin shared that the businessman was well known and much loved for his “jovial nature, generosity, and community spiritedness.
“Although he was engaged full-time in building the successful business which now bears his name, he still devoted much of his life to community service. One of my favourite childhood memories is of Christmas time, and Uncle Bill dressed as Santa Claus with Mr Graham Thompson as the Clown arriving at the airport on the Cayman Airways DC 3 to distribute candies to hundreds of excited children. Beyond that annual community service, Uncle Bill was a stalwart member of the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman and was involved in numerous community projects and programmes for many decades,” he said.
McLaughlin, on behalf of the Progressives and his own family, offered condolences to McTaggart’s widow, Debbie, to party leader Roy McTaggart, and “to his other children, grandchildren, and extended family”.
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