GARY – William Staehle, former executive director of the Gary/Chicago International Airport in the 1990s, died Sunday, Jan. 3.

            Mr. Staehle has a long record of public service to Gary and Northwest Indiana. He was the first city planner in Gary, headed the Model Cities program and taught at Indiana University Northwest.

            Mr. Staehle also served on the board of Northwestern Indiana Regional Planning Commission and on the Indiana/Illinois Bi-State Commission.

            Away from the public, Mr. Staehle was involved with the John W. Anderson Foundation in Valparaiso and the Campagna Academy.

            Mr. Staehle was a veteran of the Korean War and was an architecture graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology.

            Funeral services are today at Burns Funeral Home in Crown Point and St. Teresa of Avila in Valparaiso.