ANN ARBOR—William H. (Bill) Polliey, electrician at the University of Michigan, died in the evening Aug. 30 at the University Hospital Trauma-Burn Center following an Aug. 2 accident during renovations on the G. G. Brown Building. He was 53.
Polliey was working on a lab renovation project on the first floor of the G. G. Brown Building Aug. 2 when a short in the bus box started a fire. He was taken to the U-M Trauma-Burn Center where he remained in critical condition until his death. The precise cause of the fire is still under investigation.
“It is hard to express our sorrow at the loss of William Polliey from the University of Michigan community. His many friends and colleagues have been devastated by his death, and all of us extend our deepest sympathy to his family,” said U-M President Lee Bollinger. “It is especially tragic that Mr. Polliey died while working to make our campus facilities a better place for others.”
Polliey worked for close to 30 years as a member of the Electrician’s Local 252 before signing on with the University of Michigan in Polliey is remembered by his co-workers and friends as a “very brilliant man, intelligent, (who) knew a lot about everything,” says Sam Rochon, who worked with him for four years.
Polliey’s coworkers admired him for his straightforward demeanor and easy ways. He was methodical in his approach to his work, well organized and thorough. It is his caring side that employees remember most now as they talk about Polliey and how his death affects them.
“He was private and yet very personable,” said Paul Guttman, general foreman, Construction and Architectural Trades. “He was the kind of person that one feels honored to have known.”
Lynn Grenier, an electrical inspector at the U-M, recalls that Polliey had a great desire to do anything and everything around the home he shared with his wife, Karen, and his daughter, Suzanne.
“There was virtually nothing he couldn’t do. He built his own house with help from his friends. And if he found something he couldn’t do today, by tomorrow he would have figured it out by looking things up and doing research on it.”
Modest almost to a fault, Polliey was never one to advertise himself or his skills, Grenier says, but was always there if someone needed help. Grenier recalls sitting in the hospital with Polliey after the accident and asking himself what he was doing there.
“Then I just got a picture in my head of what it would be like if the tables were turned,” Grenier says. “And I saw Bill out mowing my lawn.” That’s when Grenier began to get together what has become a workforce of 40 colleagues who will be available if Karen needs any help with appliances, doorknobs or lawn work, or just someone to talk to.
“Bill would have done that for us. He was just a good person.”
Polliey also was active in the Ann Arbor Dog Training Club and served on its board.
Polliey is survived by his wife, Karen; his parents; daughter Suzanne; his sister, Virginia (Jack) Bennett of Grass Lake; and beloved dogs Nikki and Orry.
Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday (Sept. 3) at the St. Paul United Church of Christ in Saline. Friends may call at Robison-Bahnmiller Funeral Home from 5-9 p.m. Wednesday, from 2-4 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Thursday, and at the church from 10 a.m. until the service on Friday.
The family has requested that instead of flowers, friends consider memorial contributions to the University of Michigan Trauma-Burn Center or the Humane Society of Huron Valley.