William Kopald Obituary
Kopald, William
CLICK HERE for the Bill Kopald photo from www.greensboro.com
March 1, 1943 – June 22, 2023
William J. (Bill) Kopald passed away on June 22, 2023 following cardiac arrest at the age of 80.
A memorial service will be held on July 15, 2023, at 11 a.m. at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 3506 Lawndale Drive with the reverend Milton C. Williams officiating. The Commendation will be conducted in the church Memorial Garden. A light reception will follow the ceremony.
In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Humane Society of the Piedmont. https://www.hspiedmont.org/donate. Please see the full obituary at: https://www.grandstrandcremation.com/obituary/william-kopald?fh_id=16533
Published by Greensboro News & Record on Jul. 9, 2023.
from GreensboroSports.com:
++++++++++Bill Kopald also used to broadcast a Beach Music Show here on local Greensboro radio…Pretty sure the show ran on 100.3 FM that used to used to go by the name B100 FM, and they had Max McGann and Pam McGann in the mornings, with the Max and Pam Show, with FBI/Friendly Bob Ivey in the afternoons…Pam McGann used to do her football predictions on Friday mornings during football season, and she would use her very special sports name, Bubb McGann, to make those calls…Bill Kopald on the radio, and maybe you didn’t know that….
Pretty sure Bill Kopald achored the news on WFMY TV 2 for a few years with Sandra Hughes….And Sandra’s husband Larry used to be a pretty good car salesman over at Black Cadillac, plus Sandra’s son Alan played high school basketball for Freddy Johnson, over at the Greensboro Day School, and Alan Hughes became a car salesman for Bob Dunn Ford…
Also this will take you back even further in Bill Kopald’s career at WFMY TV 2, back to when Bill Kopald anchored the 6pm and 11pm evening news with Sybil Robson….Sybil Robson was a beautiful woman and she wasn’t around here long, but while she was here working with Bill, they were the #1 News Team in the Triad…Bill Kopald and Sybil Robson with the 6 o’clock news…Book It…
(If memory is serving me and working correctly, Sybil Robson was also a co-host for the WFMY News 2 PM Magazine Show.)
Bill caught some heat here locally one year on Halloween, when he got into a bit of a scrap/fracas with some kids that were doing some hard-core trick-or-treating in his neighborhood…It didn’t amount to too much stir, but the story did make the local rounds…
All-in-all, Bill Kopald is a name from the local past that will ring a bell, and that Bell by Bill, will Still Bring Back Good Memories…++++++++++
**********Many of you, I am sure, like an interesting read, and I feel like you find this Sybil Robson info very interesting, as we find this news on her, from Wikipedia…./www.wikipedia.com
Sybil Ann Robson Orr (born 1962) is an American film producer. She is a niece of Walmart founder Sam Walton and Helen Walton, and the founder of Robson Orr Entertainment.
Early life and career
Sybil Robson Orr was born in 1962 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Alma (née White) and Nick Robson. Her mother was a homemaker and her father was the son of a prosperous Oklahoma rancher. Together with his brother Frank Robson and brothers-in-law Sam and Bud Walton, he expanded Walmart as a franchise operation across the country.
Robson Orr graduated from Tulsa’s Memorial High School, and went on to earn a BA from Southern Methodist University. She then began her career as a news reporter and television anchor at news 2, Winston Salem NC, the United States. She briefly cohosted a syndicated tabloid television show before transitioning to ABC News in Paris. She then launched a nationally syndicated consumer program for Paramount Pictures. Following this, she partnered with producer Harvey Bernhard to create “Robson/Bernhard Entertainment” for Universal Pictures. Before and during the partnership, she wrote and produced documentaries based in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on socio-economic issues.
In 1993, she founded her own production company, Robson Entertainment (now Robson Orr Entertainment), which has offices in Beverly Hills and London. She produced the 1995 family dramedy film Gordy and the 2001 dramedy film Seven and a Match. She then produced the 2006 documentary Blindsight, which was directed by Lucy Walker and has received critical acclaim. As of February 3, 2013, it holds a 98% “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 49 reviews.
Personal life
Robson Orr has two brothers, Bruce and Joe. She also has an older half-brother, Ed Lee, from her mother’s first marriage. She is a first cousin of Alice Walton, S. Robson Walton, and Jim Walton.
With Alice Walton and other Walton family members, she owns a stake in Robson Ranch Inc., an Oklahoma ranch encompassing 18,500 acres (75 km2) which produces wheat, soybeans, and corn. She is married to British financier Matthew Orr.**********
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Bonus On The Beach….More on Bill Kopald, from the GrandStrandCremation.com:
Maybe the most impressive note from the Bill Kopald story:In 1984 and again in 1986, Bill’s six o’clock WFMY NEWS 2 newscast was the number one, most watched in the USA, with a 45% viewership.
William J Kopald
March 1, 1943 – June 22, 2023
William J. (Bill) Kopald passed away on June 22, 2023 following cardiac arrest at the age of 80.
Bill was born in New York City on March 1, 1943. He lived upstate in Cortland, NY from the age of nine through graduation from high school, and then he studied sociology at the State University of New York at Cortland. He later studied psychology at the State University of New Mexico.
Bill’s first love, however, was music. He worked part-time at the local radio station WKRT while in school. In the early sixties, while working at a radio station just outside of NYC, Bill spent a year with the legendary record producers and song writers Feldman Goldstein and Gottehrer (FGG Productions) in New York’s Brill Building.
His career was interrupted in 1965 when Bill was drafted into the US Army. Following basic training, Bill was assigned to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In 1966 he was assigned to the first psychological warfare group sent to Vietnam. He rotated out 13 months later and returned to the US.
Bill spent more than 20 years in radio working in such markets as Baltimore, Philadelphia and on the West Coast where he spent a year working for the Los Angeles Times. In 1971 he returned to the east and got his first job in TV at WNBF in Binghamton, NY. Two years later, Bill and his family moved south to Richmond, VA, where he spent the next five years. Then, in 1979, Bill was offered the primary anchor position at WFMY in Greensboro, NC. He was most proud of the fact that in 1984 and again in 1986, Bill’s six o’clock newscast was the number one, most watched in the USA, with a 45% viewership.
While at WFMY, Bill created and hosted a syndicated radio program, “At The Beach,” which was heard throughout the Southeast. Bill’s career in broadcasting enabled him to meet and become friends with many of the artists he grew up listening to on the radio.
Bill left broadcasting in 1993 but chose to remain in Greensboro. He spent the next 10 years at James A. Fyock & Associates in Winston-Salem. At the time, it was one of the largest public relations agencies in the Southeast. Bill became a vice president in 1998 and left the firm in 2003. It was then that Bill formed Sandstone Communications, a public relations firm whose clients included Nucor Steel, Eastman Chemical, Dentsply USA and the Home Furnishing Alliance. Bill spent the remainder of his career as a litigation communications consultant working with more than 40 law firms on the East Coast. His primary focus was to prepare physicians and other health care providers for deposition and trial in medical malpractice lawsuits. He continued to work from Myrtle Beach, SC, where Bill and his wife, Susan, also enjoyed an active social life with many friends.
Bill’s life came full circle in 2000 when he was invited to join the board of directors of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. In 2004, he was elected chairman. Bill established a long-term relationship with the Mike Curb Family Foundation in Nashville, TN. Together, they created the NC Music Hall of Fame Museum in Kannapolis and the annual induction ceremony. Its mission is to recognize and pay tribute to the hundreds of vocalists, musicians, composers, and music producers who were either born in NC or spent much of their life there.
Bill was a long time communicant at St. Francis Episcopal Church where he served as a lectern, member of the vestry, and on various other committees. He was also involved with the Greater Greensboro Chamber of Commerce and the Society of Professional Journalists.
Bill is survived by his wife and best friend of 38 years, Susan Lowder Dry Kopald, and his twin daughters: Jennifer Kopald Parkes (and Stuart) of Droitwich Spa, England and Jessica Kopald Crawford (and Scott) of Kernersville, NC, three grandchildren: Anna, David, and Sophia, a brother Ken Kopald (and Barbara) of San Diego, two sisters: Kathi Roberts (and George) of Vestal, NY and Hilton Head, SC and Susan Dear (and Bill) of West Chester, PA, as well as his dear friends in Greensboro and Myrtle Beach.
A memorial service will be held on July 15, 2023 at 11:00 am at St. Francis Episcopal Church, 3506 Lawndale Drive with the reverend Milton C. Williams officiating. The Commendation will be conducted in the church Memorial Garden. A light reception will follow the ceremony.
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