William Ellis Ogburn Jr., known to everyone as Bill, died on Friday, September 4, 2026. He was 77 years old and had lived in Gulf Breeze, Florida, for more than forty years.

Bill was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on January 21, 1949, to William Ellis Ogburn Sr. and Mary Isgett Ogburn. Birmingham was home for the first part of his life, but the beach was where he wanted to be, and Jimmy Buffett, his hero, had already shown him what that life could look like. He moved to Gulf Breeze, and though he left a few times over the years, he always came back.

He spent his career in real estate, and over those four decades, he helped many families find their homes in the same town he chose for himself. He gave his time to the community just as freely. Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze was an important part of his life, and his involvement there was another reflection of the connection he felt to the people and community around him. Over the years, he became as much a part of Gulf Breeze as anyone.

Flying was one of the great loves of his life. As a younger man, he was a pilot, and his children grew up around airplanes as a matter of course. He never lost his fascination with aviation, and he never lost his awe of the Blue Angels. He was a proud patriot, and to him, those six blue and gold jets were about the finest thing the country had to offer.

His friends knew him as Wild Bill, or sometimes as Hundred Dollar Bill, and he earned both names honestly. He was an avid storyteller, always ready with a story to tell, and was a connoisseur of a good hot dog. He had a saying his family heard more times than they could count: “If a little bit will do a little good, a lot will do a lot of good.” It explained a great deal about him. He was generous with everything he had, and most of all with his time. For much of his life, he quietly gave that time to people going through the hardest stretch of their lives, and he affected more lives than his family will ever know about.

What he loved most, though, was his family. To his children, he was Dad; to his grandchildren, he was Gramps; and he was never happier than when he had them all in one place. He created memories with his grandsons in the simplest and best ways—trips to Homewood Toy & Hobby and flying kites together on the beach. Those were the kinds of moments Bill treasured: time together, a little fun, and another story to tell.

Bill was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his children, William David Ogburn (Atlanta), Caroline Ogburn Taylor (Birmingham), and Mary Ashley Ogburn (Nashville), and by his grandchildren, Edward Presley Taylor, William Campbell Taylor “Camp”, and Charles Wilson Taylor “Crockett”.

There will be no formal service. Those who would like to remember Bill are invited to do it the way he would have wanted: put on some Jimmy Buffett, go to the beach, and if the Blue Angels happen to be flying that day, stop and watch.

As Jimmy Buffett put it, “Some of it’s magic, some of it’s tragic.” Bill lived fully through both, and those who knew and loved him will carry the stories with them.