William Hartwell,'s Obituary
William C. Hartwell, Jr., of Davidson, North Carolina, died at home on Sunday, January 21. Born in Alexandria, Louisiana, in 1942, he graduated from Gulfport High School in Gulfport, Mississippi, and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was vice president of his fraternity, Kappa Alpha Order. He was a first lieutenant in the United States Army Transportation Corps, stationed at the port of New Orleans. He was honored there by Mayor Victor Schiro for meritorious service during Hurricane Betsy in 1965.
Mr. Hartwell worked in the real estate business for fifty years, including commercial and residential sales and commercial real estate appraisal. He was a member of the National Association of Realtors, the Appraisal Institute, and was a Certified Commercial Investment Member designee of the CCIM Institute. He began his career with his father at Will C. Hartwell Realty in Gulfport, Mississippi. He worked in the real estate department of the Bank of America in San Francisco, California, and in 1974 opened the Kuwait Real Estate Bank in Kuwait City on Bank of America’s behalf. He was later a partner in Hartwell-Miles Real Estate Appraisal in New Orleans and then started William Hartwell and Associates in Pass Christian, Mississippi. In the early 2000’s, he relocated to North Carolina, where he was affiliated with SVN Commercial Real Estate Advisors in Cornelius. He was a member of St. Mark Catholic Church in Huntersville, North Carolina.
A life-long sailor, Mr. Hartwell raced his Ultimate 20 sailboat on Lake Norman in North Carolina. He was commodore of the Outrigger Yacht Club and a member of the Peninsula Yacht Club, both on Lake Norman.
Mr. Hartwell is a descendant of William Hartwell, who settled in Concord, Massachusetts, in 1636. Mr. Hartwell’s great-great-grandfather, Samuel Chandler Hartwell, arrived in New Orleans in the 1830s.
Mr. Hartwell is survived by his wife, Sandra Hatten Hartwell, of Davidson, North Carolina; his children, William Randolph Hartwell and his partner, Christopher Milenkevich, of Brooklyn, New York; Brooke Hartwell and her husband, Swaminathan Rajaraman, of Winter Park, Florida; Leigh Ann Preston and her husband, Derrick Preston, of Chappaqua, New York; his grandchildren, Katherine Mae Preston and William Hartwell Preston; and his sister, Judith Anne Hartwell, of New Orleans.
Funeral services will be held this week in Metairie, Louisiana. Donations may be made in his memory to St. Mark Catholic Church, 14740 Stumptown Road, Huntersville, North Carolina 28078, or to Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region, 1420 East 7th Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28204.
James Funeral Home of Huntersville is serving the family.
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