Friends, family recall importance of Club to Bill Hickman

The National Press Club was a central part of Bill Hickman’s life, friends and family remembered at a Life Celebration in Vienna, Virginia, on Monday, Nov. 13. Hickman died at the age of 77 on Nov. 10 as a result of complications from lung cancer.

Hickman directed the $90-million redevelopment of the National Press Building, he introduced members to the Press Club and he made friends there, mourners said.

Joe Motheral, chairman of the NPC’S Book & Author Committee on which Hickman served, remembered how he met Hickman at the Club and the two men began meeting each other for lunch and the occasional baseball game.

Paul Dickson, another Club member, said it was Hickman who introduced him to the Club.

“I didn’t like Bill. I loved Bill. I loved Bill like a brother and since our birthdays were only six days apart, I loved him like a twin brother,” Dixon said.

Journalism took Hickman from a small town in Texas to the big city of Houston to “his dream town of Washington, D.C.,” said his son, Todd.

Todd recalled how Bill in 1981 “defied all odds by winning the opportunity to redevelop the National Press Building in Washington. Now keep in mind this was a large, commercial project –- a large commercial endeavor to redevelop one of the most coveted and pivotal buildings in the city and my dad won this opportunity as a journalist.”

Hickman was president and chief executive officer of the National Press Building Corporation from 1981 to 1991. During that time, the building was totally gutted and rebuilt.

After leaving the Press Building position in 1991, he worked for several trade associations and a public relations firm before forming Bill Hickman Associates, a communications firm, according to his official obituary.

Hickman was born in Nederland, Texas, on July 24, 1939. He began his news industry career at age 13 as a bicycle carrier for the Beaumont Enterprise and Journal. His first reporting job was for the Enterprise while attending Lamar University in Beaumont. He worked for the Houston Post as a city desk reporter before moving to Washington, D.C.

After stints at Space Business Daily and Fairchild Publications, Hickman joined the Washington bureau for McGraw-Hill Publications, beginning a 15-year career with Business Week, Engineering News-Record (ENR), and other publications where he covered construction, transportation, communications, and energy issues.

In the 1960s and 70s he was chairman of several NPC committees and was a member of the Club’s board of governors from 1968-1971. In recent years, he was a volunteer in the NPC Archives and directed its oral-history project. He served on the board of the National Press Foundation for 14 years.

Hickman is the author and co-author of books on space technology, business management, and industrial history.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and five grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the National Press Foundation (www.nationalpress.org) in memory of Bill Hickman.