by Joseph RADDER
Of all the people alive and well today, nobody fits the nickname “Mr. Buffalo”
better than Bill Magavern.
William J. Magavern II has lived within sight of Elmwood Avenue his entire life. He and
his wife Louise also enjoy their summers in Clarksburg, as did their families before them.
This charming summer community in the hills of Eden is only 30 minutes from Bill’s
Rand Building office.
Bill Magavern graduated from Dartmouth College in 1956 and U.B. Law School in 1962. He
fondly remembers a spring break, driving to Florida and flying to Nassau. The air fare was
only $22. While there he bought 200 coconut straw hats with madras bands. Upon returning
to Dartmouth he sold them all in less than two hours, more than paying for his vacation.
One would think this demonstrated an aptitude for retailing, but law was in his blood, and
so upon graduation he joined the law firm now known as Magavern, Magavern & Grimm,
L.L.P.
Magavern, Magavern & Grimm, L.L.P. is the oldest law firm in Buffalo, founded in the
1820s by Jeremiah Ford. Bill’s grandfather William J. Magavern, who later became a
leading attorney for Canadian gold-mining interests, was admitted to the practice in 1893.
Bill’s late father, Samuel D. Magavern, led the firm for fifty years. Bill and his
brother Jim, a respected municipal and health law attorney, are senior partners in the
downtown firm today. Bill specializes in corporate law, real estate, wills, trusts and
estates.
Bill’s first exposure to the profession came at age 14 when he worked as an office
boy, allowing him to buy his first car, a Model “A” Ford Roadster for $25. Since
then he has developed an extensive car collection. His favorites are the first Ford
V-8’s, from 1932 to 1937. A year ago, he participated in the Great American Road
Race, driving an antique car from Boston to Peoria. Actually a rally, the participants
attempt to pass check points as closely as possible to designated times.
Bill serves on numerous boards of directors including the Mentholatum Company, Niagara
Blower Company, Oden Corporation, Petroleum Sales and Service, Inc. and Metal Cladding
Inc. He is chairman and a long time director of Kissing Bridge Corporation. His entire
family skis, a love he also inherited from his parents and passed on to his children and
grandchildren.
Bill has served as a director of Upstate New York Transplant Services, Inc. and has served
as chairman of the Buffalo State College Foundation, Inc., president of the Erie County
Mental Health Association, and president of the International Institute. He was an
incorporator and original director of the Allentown Association, and in past years
restored many Allentown properties. He formed Johnson Park Restoration Corporation with
others in the 1960s to save most of the Johnson Park houses then scheduled for demolition.
Bill has three daughters and four grandchildren living in Vermont, California and
Colorado. His wife, Louise Morris Magavern, is also a native of Buffalo and the Elmwood
Avenue area. She and Bill both attended the School of Practice at Buffalo State
Teachers’ College. In other words, they’ve known each other since childhood.
His interest in the arts is extensive as well. He is a past member of the Buffalo Arts
Commission and the Erie County Cultural Resources Board. He has served as an officer and
been director of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery for 31 consecutive years, longer than any
other living officer or director. He is a former director of the Burchfield-Penney Art
Center, where he is now co-chair of the Project Steering Committee, actively involved in
the planning and funding for the Center’s new building to be constructed at Elmwood
and Rockwell Drive.
When asked if he plans to retire, he is quick to say, “No; after retirement the phone
never rings,” thereby qualifying him as “Forever Young and Active”.
The Magaverns do plan to take more time off for travel, especially for winter sailing
trips “to break the back of winter”, as Bill is fond of saying. For quality of
life, however, he proclaims there is no better place to live anywhere than Buffalo.
Bill Magavern’s love of Buffalo and the many ways he has helped his city certainly
qualify him as “Mr. Buffalo”.
Joseph Radder is a freelance writer.