09/03/2026
William Heagney Moran
William Heagney Moran, born August 26, 1948, in Waterbury where he lived all his life, died peacefully at his home on Buckingham Street at age 78 on September 2, 2026 after a brief illness. His longtime partner Barry Lennan was at his side.
Bill was a great reader and an incomparable chronicler of the lives of family members and of the countless Waterburians he knew.
Conversations with Bill canvassed whole lifetimes: who went to school where in Waterbury, who married whom, what befell so and so, their tribulations and achievements, their setbacks, successes, and sorrows.
All this never ceased to mesmerize him, prompting an astute friend to call him “the James Joyce of Waterbury.” He was always enshrining how interconnected we all are.
“Billy was a spirit, a force almost too big for him to contain,” wrote the editor/publisher and biographer Victoria Wilson, “and what spilled out in all directions was in the best of intentions and support.”
Bill was a devoted son to his talented and visionary mother, Gertrude Moran Quinn, who was president of the Waterbury Civic Theater and a key force (along with her dear friend Rosemary Monagan, wife of our Congressman) on the Waterbury Arts Council in the 1960s.
Bill also loved to talk about T. F. Moran & Sons, his family’s construction company operating during the post-war boom years of our “Brass City” where his father was a principal until his early death when Bill was just six.
Bill graduated from Cheshire Academy in 1966 where he received a gold medal (and a gold watch from his stepfather, Raymond Quinn, Public Defender of the Superior Court) for his outstanding academic progress. He then went on to study at the University of Connecticut at Storrs.
Bill was for many years a real estate agent for Root & Boyd where his gift of speech made for great success. He and his partner Barry journeyed up and down the coast of New England for their forty happy years together, discovering antique and vintage treasures to sell in their fashionable shops, WilliamBarry Antiques in Woodbury and later Little Black Dress in Naugatuck.
Bill was predeceased by his older brothers James and Michael; his sister Jane Moran Petro; his sister Laurie Quinn and his brother Mark Quinn. He is survived by his partner Barry Lennan; his sisters Faith Moran McDermott and her husband Dan and Alice Quinn and her spouse Laurie Kerr; his many nieces and nephews, including Amy and Michael Petro and their children; Natira and John McDermott and their children; the children of his brother James, Ian, Tara, Taig, James, and Sean; the children of his brother Michael, Evan and Dennis; and the children of his brother Mark, John and Alex. Many cousins were also dear to him, particularly the O’Neil clan of Watertown, Connecticut and many cousins on his mother’s side.
Bill’s tremendous love of life and of Waterbury and its people are his enduring and moving legacy.
Friends are invited to celebrate his remarkable spirit and personality on Saturday, September 5, from 4 to 8 PM at the Bergin Funeral Home at 290 East Main Street in Waterbury.
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