Bill Heenan Jr., the former president of the Steel Recycling Institute (SRI), died Dec. 6.

Heenan, 65, had retired to Daufuskie Island, S.C., after leaving the Pittsburgh-based SRI in 2010 for health reasons, according to his obituary and a past SRI news release.

Heenan served as president of SRI from 1990 to 2010.  Prior to joining SRI, Heenan was general manager, tin mill products, for the United States Steel Corp., a position to which he was appointed in 1988.

He was a lifetime board member of the National Recycling Coalition, served as a board member of Keep America Beautiful Inc. and was co-chairman of Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful.

In 2013 he was the recipient of the Steel Market Development Institute’s (SMDI) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Thomas Gibson, president and CEO of the Washington-based American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI), made the following statement: “On behalf of the AISI family and our member companies, we were deeply saddened to hear of Bill’s passing.  Bill was a tireless and devoted leader in the steel industry – building SRI from the ground up and establishing steel as the world’s most recycled material.  We are forever grateful for the lasting impact Bill had on our industry and send our deepest sympathy to his family.” 

Lawrence Kavanagh, president of the Washington-based SMDI and long-time colleague of Heenan’s, said, “Beyond work, Bill was a generous and devoted family man.  He set an example for all of us by crediting every success he had to his family."

Both SRI and SMDI are business units of AISI. 

Mark Lichtenstein, president and CEO of the National Recycling Coalition (NRC), said on the group’s website tribute to Heenan, “To say I'm filled with grief understates how I truly feel.”

Heenan is survived by his wife of 43 years, Barbara; two sons, Sean and Brian; and a daughter, Becky.