William retired at the end of 2023, after 35 years with the Ontario Public Service. This included five years at the cabinet office, mainly as their manager of planning and development for information technology. During his six years at Queen’s, he was best known for announcing and producing a wide range of CFRC programming, with a year as the classical music director then two years as the FM programming director. After graduating, he worked for 10 years at the head office of C-I-L Inc., Canada’s largest chemical company (formerly Canadian Industries Limited), first in financial planning then introducing automated office systems. Two family members are also Queen’s graduates: his sister, Anne Helena Cowling (Artsci’78) and his daughter, Louisa Rose Cowling (Ed’14).