William Lee Passauer, 81, of Centreville, Virginia, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2026, surrounded by his loving family.

Bill was born May 30, 1944, in Oil City, to the late Willard and Doris Passauer. He was raised in Oil City surrounded by family, including his grandparents.

Bill graduated from Oil City High School in 1963. He then enlisted and served his country in the U.S. Navy. Serving in the Viet Nam War era, he was trained in ship-board electronics and computers, and later trained others. As a Maintenance and Material Management Coordinator of a Gunnery Division, he rose to the rank of Command Senior Chief. After concluding his 21 years of service, he became a defense contractor for Titan Corporation and L3 Communication, specializing in quality control aspects of computer system integration and working on several contracts to support U.S. and NATO operations.

Outside his professional career, in the early 80’s, Bill developed and later sold the rights to one of the first database programs designed to run on an Apple II computer. Its successor is sold in all English-speaking countries.

Bill is the author of websites that document Oil City, and nearby points of interest. Oilcitypa.net contains new and old images of Oil City and its history, Monarch Park (1896-1926) near Oil City, and the Chamor Estate in Seneca. OCHSclassof63.com is dedicated to his high school classmates. Riverridgefarm.org shows the WW I-era Sibley estate between Oil City and Franklin constructed largely under the supervision of Ernesto Grandelis, the grandfather of Suzanne, who married Bill in 1966.

Bill leaves behind his beloved wife, Suzanne, of Centreville; a daughter, Kristin (Brian) Hall, of Manassas, Virginia; three grandchildren, Alexa Hall, of Front Royal, Virginia, Mia Whittaker, of Manassas, Mason Hall, of Manassas; and three great-grandchildren, Bennett, Elizabeth and Lukas Whittaker, all of Manassas.

He is also survived by his sister, Yvonne, of Auburndale, Florida; a niece, Susie (Andrew), and great nephew, Latham, of Essex, UK; a nephew, Joey (Edith) Stiller; and great nephews, Ricky and Patrick, of Fort Myers, Florida.

Bill was a loving and wonderful husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He will be interred, with honors, at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date. A celebration of life is being planned for May.