William (Bill) Keller Hoskins, of Vineyard Haven and Lincoln. died in his sleep at his home in Lincoln on Feb. 5. He was 89.

Bill was born Feb. 22, 1935 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the son of John and Gertrude Keller Hoskins, and brother to John and Robert Hoskins. He was raised in nearby Glendale and attended Cincinnati Country Day School.

He attended Yale University on a Naval ROTC scholarship, graduating in 1956 with a bachelor’s degree in political science. Upon graduation, he served in the Navy for three years, much of the time as operations officer on the destroyer USS Brown, deployed in the western Pacific. He attained the rank of Lieutenant JG.

Following the Navy, he attended Harvard Law School. While living in Cambridge, he met his guiding star, Bette, who he married in 1961.

Upon graduation from Harvard Law in 1962, Bill and Bette moved back to Cincinnati to raise their family. Bill joined the Frost and Jacobs law firm, specializing in corporate law. In 1966, he took a position as general counsel for the Drackett Company, a subsidiary of Bristol-Myers, rising to chief legal officer of Bristol-Myers in 1981.

In 1982, he moved his family to Kansas City and signed on as general counsel for the smaller and more entrepreneurial Marion Laboratories, guiding it through mergers to create first Marion Merrell Dow, and ultimately Hoechst Marion Rousell, the world’s second largest pharmaceutical company at the time.

He retired as general counsel in 1997 and moved with Bette to Boston, with a summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, where they hosted epic annual reunions with their rapidly growing clan of children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In 2001, he came out of retirement to form Resolution Strategies, the first law firm solely committed to the practice of early dispute resolution as settlement counsel, in which a client is guided to an early and equitable settlement, avoiding lengthy and costly disputes in the courts. His pioneering work is now a standard practice in many prominent law firms.

Throughout his accomplished professional career, he was active in local and national leadership of the Republican party. He was an avid tennis player, golfer, sailor and skier, even picking up wind surfing in his 50s and skiing into his 80s.

Most of all, he was a kind, generous and thoughtful father, grandfather and great grandfather.

He was preceded in death by Elizabeth (Bette) Grimm Hoskins, his beloved wife of 59 years. He leaves son Bruce Hoskins Barlag and wife Kathy; son William (Andy) Hoskins and wife Megan; son John Hoskins and wife Wendy; daughter Elizabeth (Lissa) Hoskins Dow and husband Robert; and daughter Allison Hoskins Levit and husband Lev. He was blessed with 15 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren who loved him dearly.

A public funeral service will be held on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 6 p.m. at St. Anthony Shrine, 100 Arch Street, Boston.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Bill’s memory may be sent to St. Anthony Shrine, 100 Arch Street, Boston, MA 02110 (stanthonyshrine.org) or to the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Drive, University Circle, Cleveland, OH 44106 (cmnh.org).