Remembering Professor Billy Lynn

Retired Economics professor and former Davenport city alderman, Billy Gene Lynn, 75, died Jan. 17 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

He is survived by his immediate family: wife, Arletta, and son Kyle, both of Davenport. Visitation is Jan. 22 at 10 a.m. at Halligan-McCabe-DeVries Funeral Home, Downtown Davenport with a Noon celebration of life. For more details, please read Lynn's obituary.

St. Ambrose University colleagues described Lynn as a conversationalist, someone with the ability to weave economics into any topic. 

"Billy's main joy was applying Economics to all sorts of things: entrepreneurship, environmental, fiscal policy, international, etc., and typically with a view slightly askew from traditional approaches," said SAU colleague and Economics Professor Art Moreau, PhD. "His true love was applying Economics to Entrepreneurship, something he did very well in the multiple businesses he founded and ran."

Lynn was also a lifelong economist who was "more interested in looking at the nature of the political system and its both positive and negative characteristics," said Greg Bereskin, PhD, another fellow Economics professor at St. Ambrose. "If the time was available he was always interested in just sitting and talking about local, national and world events and possible repercussions on all involved. He very much understood the differences between public goods and private goods and their provision to society."

"We at St. Ambrose University were saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Bill Lynn," said SAU Provost Paul Koch, PhD. "Bill was a valued member of our Economics Department for nearly 30 years, and will be well-remembered within our campus community. His passions for assisting small businesses and protecting the environment, coupled with his time on the city council, added to the sense of service to community that we hope our students and alumni will emulate. Our thoughts are with Bill's family at this difficult time."

Lynn achieved a Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry in 1968 from Blackburn College, Carlinville, Illinois, and his Master's degree in economics in 1975 from the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He began his teaching career as an economics and business instructor at Palm Beach Junior College in Lake Worth, Florida. He was then hired at Eastern Illinois University as an Assistant Professor of Economics before becoming an Associate Professor of Business at the former Teikyo Marycrest University.

While teaching at Marycrest, Lynn earned his doctorate in Economics (1991) from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. In Fall 1995, he began teaching Economics at SAU. 

In 1996, Lynn began the work of establishing an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts program in Environmental Management at SAU. When the program began in 1999, SAU was one of only sevenschools to offer the degree. The curriculum was partly designed around specifications of the National Registry of Environmental Professionals.

"Business and government need environmental specialists who have an understanding of science, business, regulation, and the political system," Lynn said in a February 1996 Quad-City Times article about starting the program.

Lynn stepped into local governance in 2003 when he first ran for Davenport's 5th Ward Alderman seat. In a 2003 Quad-City Times article on why Lynn wanted to represent the 5th Ward – which includes the business corridors of the Village of East Davenport and Downtown Davenport – he said the city should relax regulations that he believed were contrary to attracting and keeping property investors and small businesses.

As an alderman, Lynn helped bring about changes to the rental housing inspections ordinance, chaired the Public Safety Committee, and helped establish in 2007 a Davenport chapter of the Guardian Angels, a citizen patrol group (now locally disbanded). He also wrote a quarterly newsletter for his 5th Ward residents keeping them apprised of happenings in the ward. In 2011 after four terms (eight years) in public service, Lynn announced he would not seek re-election.

Beyond his work as the 5th Ward alderman, he was involved in the Quad Cities community by offering frequent free seminars on owning a small business and providing expertise to companies seeking compliance with environmental regulation. He also co-founded the Quad City Society of Environmental Professionals.

Over the years, Lynn contributed to several articles in local media as an expert on business, small business, entrepreneurship, environmental economics, and the economy. He also self-published a book, "Business Plans for the New and Small Business" and made many other notable contributions to St. Ambrose University, the Quad Cities, the environment, and business community:

• Along with the Bi-State Regional Commission, Lynn helped write a grant in 1999 to educate the community about air quality. He was also a member of the Bi-State Regional Commission's task force on air quality (2000-02).
• He also co-authored papers on a predictive model for oil prices over the next 20 years as well as a study showing how city fees and regulations impacted the number of houses built in Davenport.
• Worked as a consultant for the Veteran's Administration, Environmental Protection Agency (in particular its eXcellence and Leadership (XL) Program in 1998), Institute for Environmental Research and Education, City of Davenport, and several organizations.
• Attended several annual education summits sponsored by the National Association of Environmental Managers. Lynn was invited to represent St. Ambrose University which was one of a select number of higher education institutions invited to attend.
• Chaired the Academic Centers for Excellence Committee (part of the National Association of Environmental Professionals).

–Robin JB Ruetenik, '15 MOL