Obituary
It is with a heavy heart that we inform you that William (Bill) Henry Potthoff, passed away peacefully at the age of 80 on February 2, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida. He was surrounded by his daughter Alicia (boomer) Zizza, son-in-law Chris Zizza, his granddaughter Mia Zizza and by his son Rem Staten and daughter-in-law Brittney Staten ….all of whom he greatly adored.
Born March 6, 1943, in Latrobe, PA to William and Vera Potthoff, he is survived by his three children, Alicia Zizza (Chris), Rem Staten (Brittney), Carin Abdo (Dave Raber) along with his wife of over 50 years, Sharon Potthoff, his five grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and two brothers Tom and Fred Potthoff and their families as well.
Bill had a very full life starting out in the church in Latrobe, PA as an altar boy, all start runner, avid golfer (even caddying for Arnold Palmer once), camp counselor, stellar student, private pilot, and then went on to serve in the United Stated Air Force and attended Grove City College eventually getting in to computer programming to utilize his brilliant mind. He was also quite the entrepreneur starting businesses such as Marine Dynamics (1980’s) and InRes (1990’s), an AIRBNB app well before it’s time. Brilliant man.
In his retirement years he invested his time for his passion in the Ligonier Valley Railroad. He also had a huge love of golf, boating, music, reading and movies. Our Dad was a family man, took great pride in the Potthoff family name and Potthoff Jewelers in Latrobe, PA. He was definitively an excellent father teaching us all we needed to know.
Our Dad had an enormous sense of humor, and quite quirky at that; always looking for the next laugh and found smiles in everything.
He just recently moved to Florida to live out his golden years and he had the time of his life doing so, mentioning time and time again how lucky and blessed he felt.
There will be a celebration of life for him in his true home, Latrobe, PA this May for family and friends which will be announced in the near future.
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