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Bill Raser, journalist, actor and a fixture of Amelia Island’s arts community, dies at 89
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FERNANDINA BEACH - Journalist, thespian, photographer, Bill Raser charged through his 89-year life with a savoir faire that left a world of admirers behind. Born in Philadelphia February 26, 1937, Bill died at Fernandina Beach Fla., on September 25, 2026, after a brief illness.
Bill was a familiar presence at area community theatres for two decades. At Amelia Community Theatre he appeared in many productions including The Odd Couple, On Golden Pond, The Sunshine Boys, All My Sons, Our Town, The Chalk Garden, and It’s a Wonderful Life, as well as the musicals Oliver! and Bookstore.A singing talent, he was especially known for his role as Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady, and missionary Arvide Abernathy in Guys and Dolls at the Amelia Musical Theater, and as Don Quixote in Man of La Mancha at the St. Mary’s Little Theatre.
Bill acquired the Amelia Islander publication with partner Mike Lamb in 1993 and as publisher, editor and chief photographer turned it into the slick, glossy and profitable magazine it became. Raser and Lamb sold the magazine in 2002.
Bill’s photography was well known; he was vice president of the Amelia Island Film Festival and gave a photography workshop.
When he arrived in Fernandina Beach in 1992, he fell in love with pétanque and participated in the Pétanque America Open for eight years. (He named his team “Palle d’accaio” -- Balls of steel).
Bill studied journalism with a specialty in photography at the University of Pennsylvania. He played football for the Ivy League Quakers, became involved in theatre there and was an R.O.T.C. grad.
During one summer break while attending Penn, Bill worked as a singing waiter at the High Point Café in Ocean City, N.J.
He went into the U.S. Navy after graduation where he served from 1959 to 1962 as a lieutenant j.g., primarily as a public information officer. At first assigned to the admiral’s office at the Thirteenth Naval District HQ, Seattle, he was transferred to the destroyer U.S.S. Samuel M. Moore, which was part of an antisubmarine task force in the western Pacific.
After his Navy service, Bill was hired by Fairchild Publications, a trade newspaper publisher focused on the fashion and garment industries, with its lead publication Women’s Wear Daily. He became Fairchild’s bureau chief for Italy, based in the fashion capital of Milan, where he became an authority on Italian fashion trends.
While in Milan, he married and had a family of three daughters.
As part of a reorganization, Fairchild brought Bill back to the States in 1978, but his family elected to stay behind in Italy.
Bill then had a series of marketing positions in the grocery stamp business, first in Dayton, Ohio, with the E.F. McDonald Co., which was absorbed by the Carlson Company (of Gold Bond Stamp fame) in Minneapolis.
It was while in the Twin Cities that Bill met his future wife, Linda Laine, a school teacher.
The Gold Bond job didn’t last and Bill landed with the “Green Stamp” company, Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H), in Chicago. Bill and Linda continued their relationship through the mail. (Bill saved all of the letters and cards he received from Linda in a large box that traveled with him.)
When in Dayton, Bill joined the Civil Air Patrol and obtained a pilot’s license. He continued with the CAP in Minneapolis and Chicago.
Advised to get a retirement home before actual retirement, Bill discovered Amelia Island and bought a house in Fernandina Beach, to where he moved in 1992. Linda joined him. They married in 1998.
Bill was a member of the Presbyterian Church.
He is survived by his wife, Linda, two daughters -- Francesca Sullivan of New Kensington, Pennsylvania, and Jessica Raser of Casnia, Italy – son-in-law Todd Laine, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
