Col. William G. Eckhardt

Bill was born in Ames, Iowa on January 7, 1941, to Dr. Robert C. Eckhardt and Ruth F. Eckhardt. When his parents finished their graduate studies, they moved to Tennessee and ultimately to Starkville, Mississippi. Bill grew up in Starkville. Bill was a great storyteller and regaled his family and anyone else who would listen with tales of life in the 40s and 50s in America’s deep south. In high school he was proud of being at Mississippi Boy’s State and being the band’s drum major.

Bill’s education continued at the University of Mississippi and then at the University of Virginia, School of Law. At Ole Miss, Bill was the band’s drum major for three years, he was in the Army ROTC program where he became the Cadet Colonel. He entered the Army as a Second Lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps. This was the beginning of a thirty-year career. Bill received many awards including Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (2 awards), Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (5 awards), Army Commendation Medal, National Defense Service Medal (1 bronze star), Vietnam Service Medal (2 bronze stars), Humanitarian Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal.

Early in his career, Bill prosecuted and defended in Courts Martials at Ft. Knox, in Vietnam, and in Germany against many of his JAGC colleagues as well as F. Lee Bailey, and Melvin Belli, prominent civilian attorneys.

Later, significant positions included: Chief Prosecutor in the My Lai Cases (receiving the Federal Bar Association - Federal Younger Lawyer Award for his professional efforts which was presented by Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist), Personnel Affairs Branch Chief in the Army’s Litigation Division, General Counsel to units in California and Germany, the Army’s Chief Appellate Defender, and Legal Advisor to Wartime Theater Commander. While on active duty, his varying teaching duties included being an adjunct professor at the University of California at Berkeley, and two assignments at the U.S. Army War College.

Knowing he wanted to teach, upon retirement in 1993, Bill moved to the civilian world and began a 23-year career teaching law at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. He taught 252 classes/clinics with a total of 4,801 students. These classes included Administrative Law, Criminal Law, and Evidence and others. In addition, he supervised hundreds of students who worked in Clinics, Internships, and Externships in such varied areas as Federal Public Defender, Legal Aid, the ACLU, U.S. EPA, Environmental Law, and the U.S. Attorney’s office. He was an adjunct professor at the University of Kansas School of Law.

Bill received several awards from UMKC:

Teaching Awards

• Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2003, 2006, and 2010

• Elmer F. Pierson Outstanding Teaching Award 2007

• Awarded Emeritus Status upon retirement 2016

University Awards

• Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Community Engagement in 2011

• Outstanding Retired Faculty Award by the UMKC Retirees Association, for exceptional achievement by a retiree. One of these is awarded per year. 2026

Bill was involved in the Kansas City community and in Army connected organizations including the Command and General Staff College Board of Trustees as a founding trustee; a member of the Kansas City Star Editorial Board Reader Advisory Panel; SPARK as a student as well as on the Board of Directors; a founding member of the Jackson County Ethics Commission; Board member of Heartland Camps and Retreat Center; and an Elder at Second Presbyterian Church in Kansas City.

Bill was accompanied on many of these journeys and adventures by his wife, Marge, to whom he was married for 57 years. They raised two sons, Will (deceased) and Rob. Additional family includes daughters-in-law Brenda Eckhardt and Carole Eckhardt and grandchildren, Forest Eckhardt, Adrienne Eckhardt, Anita Eckhardt, Alan Eckhardt and Kaili Kreiner. Bill’s siblings are Dr. Karl R. Eckhardt (Pamela), Elizabeth Palmieri (Frank), and Myrna Lott (Bryan).

Funeral services will be held at Second Presbyterian Church, 318 East 55th Street, Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 2:00 pm. Visitation will follow the service. The service will be livestreamed; link available on Bill’s tribute page at: www.MuehlebachChapel.com.

Inurnment will be at Leavenworth National Cemetery on Monday, October 26, 2026, at 10 o’clock in the morning. The cemetery is located at 150 Muncie Road, Leavenworth, Kansas. To be admitted, you need to be there prior to the stated time and in line.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to Heartland Camps and Retreat Center, PO Box 170, Waldron, MO 64092.