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William “Bill” Guiducci, a longtime local banker and community volunteer who served 15 years on the William Floyd School District board, will be honored by the Chamber of Commerce of the Mastics and Shirley at its annual dinner in May.
The chamber dinner, set for May 9 at Mill Pond Golf & Catering in Medford, is the chamber’s big fundraiser for the year.
Guiducci, senior vice president and branch manager of Empire National Bank in Shirley, first moved to the area from the Bronx in 1972.
Over 53 years in banking, he has worked at 15 different banks, much of that due to consolidation, and he has served on many different community boards.
Currently president of the Rotary Club of Shirley and the Mastics, Guiducci, 74, of Shirley, has been a Rotarian since 1985. He was also a chamber member, served as a trustee of St. Jude Roman Catholic Church in Mastic Beach, as well as on the committee for what’s now the Brookhaven Town Aquatic Center. He was a longtime local liaison for the Salvation Army and chaired numerous annual golf outings. Additionally, he is a member of the J.V. Kavanaugh Knights of Columbus Council No. 5293.
During his time on the school district board in the 1990s and 2000s, Guiducci said, “We were the thrust of getting rid of all the [portable buildings] that were on all the school grounds. We got a wonderful campus for the high school” and built the William Floyd Middle School in Moriches. “We achieved quite a bit,” said Guiducci, whose four children graduated from the district. Several older grandchildren graduated, too, and he has younger grandchildren currently in William Floyd schools.
“He’s involved in every single thing in this community,” said Beth Wahl, president of the chamber, on Guiducci’s selection. But winning him over to accept the honor wasn’t easy.
“He’s pretty humble,” Wahl said, who tried to bestow honors on Guiducci over the years, but he shied away. She said he originally said no this year. “He had a list with every excuse,” Wahl said.
With urging from his peers, Guiducci, who was honored by an Italian group (he had to be convinced to accept it by the pastor of St. Jude at the time) in the late 1990s, the Knights of Columbus Council in 2004 and the rotary in 2010, accepted.
“It’s more embarrassing than anything,” Guiducci said in a self-deprecating manner, then added: “I’m thrilled about it and honored.”
