60
Country Club, and the Sanctum Club, and
the Mid-Ocean Club in Bermuda.
Mr. Sperry gave consistently and gen-
erously to St. Paul’s and to other organiza-
tions. He was in charge of fundraising
ahead of the Form of 1944’s 40th reunion
in 1984. He served as a form agent from
1983 to 1992 and was a member of the
John Hargate Society, having remembered
St. Paul’s in his estate plans.
Survivors include Mr. Sperry’s wife,
Gail P. Sperry; six children, Melyn Sperry
Robinson, Allen McBrier Sperry, Jr., Benja-
min Oxnard Sperry ’74, Catherine Still-
man Sperry, Thomas Leavenworth Coleman
Sperry, and Sarah Sperry Hehman; several
grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
1945
William Wallace Sprague, Jr.
who transformed
a local sugar re-
finery in Savan-
nah, Georgia, into
a major player in
the food industry,
died on December
30, 2015, at the
age of 89.
Mr. Sprague
was born in Savannah on November 11,
1926, to William Wallace Sprague and
Mary Swan Crowther Sprague. He grew
up there and attended Savannah public
schools before enrolling at St. Paul’s as
a Second Former in the fall of 1940. His
teachers immediately noticed his intellect
and work ethic, noting in Mr. Sprague’s
student file that he was “one of the most
vigorous, responsible, and intelligent boys
in his class.”
At SPS, Mr. Sprague played football
and hockey for Old Hundred and rowed
with Shattuck. He was a member of the
Missionary Society, the Scientific Society,
the Propylean Literary Society, and the
Chest Committee. He qualified as a junior
sharpshooter and participated in the Stu-
dent Council. He earned Second Testimo-
nials as a Fifth Former and was inducted
into the Cum Laude Society, graduating a
year early with the Form of 1944.
Mr. Sprague served two years in the
U.S. Navy, before attending MIT and fin-
ishing his undergraduate degree at Yale,
where he earned a B.S. in mechanical
engineering in 1950. During the summer
of 1953, Mr. Sprague’s sister invited her
Wellesley College roommate, Elizabeth “Liz”
Carr, to visit Savannah. On that stay, a
romance bloomed between Ms. Carr and
Mr. Sprague and, four months later, on
October 3, 1953, they were married in her
hometown of Memphis, Tenn. The couple
settled in Savannah and together raised
four children.
A businessman, Mr. Sprague worked
for many years as chairman of the board
and CEO of Savannah Foods and Industries,
a company best-known for making Dixie
Crystals sugar. During his tenure, Savannah
Foods grew from a small, regional sugar
refinery to a member of the Fortune 500.
In the 1980s, the company ranked second
in terms of total return to shareholders.
Mr. Sprague was proud of these achieve-
ments and eager to attribute them to his
employees’ teamwork.
In addition to his local success, Mr.
Sprague was well known in the global
sugar business, serving in leadership
positions for national and international
trade groups. He received the 1985 Dyer
Memorial Sugar Man of the Year award
and, in 1999, was induced into the Georgia
Southern University College of Business
Hall of Fame. He also served as a director
of the C&S Bank, a role he continued
when that organization grew into Bank
of America.
Mr. Sprague earned a reputation for
excellence at work, at home, and in his
community. He received numerous civic
and community honors for his work on
behalf of local business groups and chari-
ties, including the United Way, the YMCA,
and Goodwill Industries. He also served
as senior warden of Savannah’s Christ
Episcopal Church and later became a com-
municant and supporter of the city’s Christ
Church Anglican.
The family and many friends of Mr.
Sprague will remember his wonderful
sense of humor, his love of outdoor sports,
and his deep desire to make the world
around him a better place.
Survivors include Mr. Sprague’s wife of
62 years, Elizabeth Carr Sprague; his sis-
ter, Mary Swan Sprague Iselin; his children,
Lauren Duane Sprague, Courtney Sprague
Flexon, William Wallace Sprague III, and
Elizabeth Sprague O’Meara; 10 grand-
children; and two great-grandchildren.
Mr. Sperry’s career was spent in the
manufacturing industry, first with Scovill
Manufacturing Company in Waterbury,
Conn., where he worked from 1948 to 1961
as a methods engineer and a production
control manager, rising to assistant general
manager of the Mills Division. For the next
three years, until 1964, Mr. Sperry served
as president of Coral Corp. in Newtown,
Conn., an investment counseling business
he founded with his brother, Corydon. In
1964, Mr. Sperry founded a metal stamp-
ings business called Metallon Inc. He served
as president and chairman well into his
eighties, when he retired. For 40 years,
from 1969 to 2009, Mr. Sperry worked for
Turner and Seymour Manufacturing in
Torrington, Conn., at first managing the
company and later earning the title of
president and chairman. He took the
company private in 1984 and assumed
controlling ownership until Turner and
Seymour was sold.
Outside of work, Mr. Sperry enjoyed
many hobbies and interests, including
tending to his vegetable garden, playing
bridge, and chopping wood. He was a
devotee of the Sunday
New York Times
crossword puzzle and a diehard New York
Giants football fan. Mr. Sperry loved his
big family and enjoyed traveling. He liked
to play golf, earning the nickname “The
Sprayer” for the erratic nature of his game.
Mr. Sperry was involved in many com-
munity organizations. He was a longtime
trustee of the Charlotte Hungerford Hospi-
tal in Torrington and of nearby Waterbury
Hospital. From 1969 to 1972, Mr. Sperry
served as head of the board of St. Marga-
ret’s School, helping with the successful
merger with the all-boys McTernan School,
his alma mater. He also served on the
advisory boards of Waterbury Savings
Bank and Hartford National Bank and
was a director of the Seitz Corp., a manu-
facturing firm in Torrington. He was at
one time chairman of the church council
of the Middlebury Congregational Church,
was a director of the Waterbury Boys Club
and the Torrington Area Chamber of Com-
merce, and was a trustee of the Milton
Congregational Church.
In addition, Mr. Sperry was, at various
times, a member of several clubs in Con-
necticut, including Waterbury Country
Club, Highfield Country Club, Litchfield
DECEASED
