George William (Bill) Bothwell, 83, passed away on January 19, 2018. After serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force for 10 years he joined the Canadian Marconi Company in Montreal, Canada where he initially took on expat assignments supporting field product engineering to the United States Air Force (Dover, DL) and the Royal Canadian Navy (Halifax, NS). In 1966 he returned to Montreal and moved into manufacturing management. In the early 1970's he was recruited into the Montreal based corporate headquarters of Northern Electric which became Northern Telecom (Nortel). In 1976 he became Plant Manager of the Nortel manufacturing location in West Palm Beach, FL then in the early 1980's he moved to Raleigh, NC to manage the Nortel factory in Creedmoor, NC and the development of the major factory complex located in the Research Triangle Park. In the late 1980’s he moved to the Nortel corporate headquarters located in Nashville, TN where his final position at the company was as the Corporate Vice President of Worldwide Purchasing. Bill was a supporter for professional growth of the purchasing profession. He supported the Minority and Small Business Development Council of Tennessee, and was involved early on with the Center for Advanced Procurement Strategy (CAPS) in ASU’s W.P. Carey College of Business. After his retirement from Nortel in 1995, he and his wife moved to Phoenix. Bill is survived by his wife Pat, three children, a grandchild and two great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by a grandchild. The family is planning a celebration of life for at a future date. Contributions may be made to Hospice of the Valley in Bill's name.