William Priestman Thorpe October 31, 1938 - December 2, 2012 Grosse Pointe, Michigan

William P. Thorpe IV, a Grosse Pointe Farms attorney who distinguished himself as a national and international rules official in sailboat racing following more than 40 years as a rowing and sailing competitor, died Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, after a courageous battle with brain cancer. He was 74.
Mr. Thorpe, who was equally known for his unique curmudgeonly charm, developed a keen passion for the water, particularly the Detroit River and Lake St. Clair, early in life, first sparked by his involvement with rowing at the Detroit Boat Club at age 17. He went on to win five U.S. Rowing national titles and nine Royal Canadian Henley Regatta championships, and was named to the Detroit Boat Club Rowing Hall of Fame in 1997.
In 1965, shortly after beginning law school at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he met Bill Martin, who taught economics at Eastern Michigan University and who later became athletic director at the University of Michigan, during a pickup basketball game. Mr. Martin, an avid sailor, invited Mr. Thorpe to crew aboard his sailboat on Lake St. Clair and further develop his enthusiasm for the water.
Mr. Thorpe was a member of Bayview Yacht Club in Detroit since 1972, serving as the clubs commodore in 1993. He sailed in 38 Port Huron-to-Mackinac Races, winning his class championship six times, as well as 19 Chicago-to-Mackinac Races. He was also active in the International Etchells fleet at Bayview for several years and a member of Bayviews Old Goats Society, reserved for sailors who have completed at least 25 Mackinac events.
It was at Bayview Yacht Club, during an Etchells regatta in 1985, where Mr. Thorpe was introduced to a fellow attorney, Tracy L. Allen, whom he married in 1989.
Building on his experience as a competitive sailor aboard both big and small boats, Mr. Thorpe devoted himself to race management, as a judge and umpire, and was a well-respected and much sought-after regatta official, noted for his burning sense of fair play on the water. He was appointed as a judge in 1997 by U.S. Sailing, the sports national governing body, and later as a senior judge in 1999, an umpire in 2004, and an international judge in 2006.
In 2007, he became a U.S. Sailing regional administrative judge and frequent instructor to train judges in the organizations certification program. He also served as chairman of the protest committee for the Detroit Regional Yacht-racing Association. Since 1997, he was a member, co-chair or chairman of rules and protest committees at more than 100 sailing events throughout the world.
Mr. Thorpe, who fancied himself as a talented golfer, was also active in snow skiing, making his first trip to Aspen Mountain in Colorado at the age of 12, and staying active in the sport until as recently as last February at Boyne Mountain in northern Michigan.
After graduating from Grosse Pointe High School in 1956, Mr. Thorpe received a bachelors degree in economics in 1961 and later a Juris Doctor degree in 1967, both from the University of Michigan. He was admitted to the State Bar of Michigan in 1968 and practiced commercial transactions, litigation and corporate law for 45 years with Fildew Hinks PLLC and two predecessor firms in Detroit and Royal Oak.
Following his undergraduate career, Mr. Thorpe was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy, serving on active duty from 1961 to 1965, while rising to the rank of lieutenant junior grade. He served as a communications officer aboard the USS Randolph, an anti-submarine carrier, in the western Atlantic Ocean during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the recovery of the Project Mercury spacecraft and astronaut John Glenn after the first American orbital flight in space, both in 1962.
He is survived by his wife, Tracy; two sisters, Barbara (John) Jay of Naples, Fla., and Nancy Thorpe of Stuttgart, Germany; and two nephews, Michael and Rob Jay, both of New York, N.Y. He was predeceased by his parents, William P. (Bud) Thorpe III and Mary Elizabeth (Betty) Thorpe, and a brother, John Thorpe.
Visitation for family members and friends will be held 4-8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, at Chas. Verheyden Funeral Home, 16300 Mack Ave., Grosse Pointe Park. A memorial service will be conducted at 4 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7, 2012, at St. Johns Episcopal Church, 2326 Woodward Ave., Detroit.
Memorial contributions may be sent to Bayview Yacht Club Junior Sailors, Inc., 100 Clairpointe St., Detroit, MI 48215; Friends of Detroit Rowing, Inc., 27551 Rackham Dr., Lathrup Village, MI 48076; Hermelin Brain Tumor Center, 1 Ford Place, 5A, Office of Philanthropy, Detroit, MI 48202; or Community Living Centers, Inc., 33235 Grand River Ave., Farmington, MI 48336.