William Gordon Scott, aged 89, died unexpectedly on April 15th, 2026 in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

He was preceded in death by his sister Lynn Ellen "Sissy" Scott and parents F.L. "Jeff" and Louisa Irene Scott (Ansley). He is survived by his wife, Sally Ann (Kemp) Scott; children Barbara (Neil Hejny), AZ, Andy (Martha) Scott, Jacksonville, VT, and Sara (Roger Sudbeck), Sioux Falls, SD; sister Elisabeth Anne Scott, Howard, SD; niece Mary Elisabeth "Molly" (Mark) Wolfe; grand nieces Eleanor and Geneva and grand nephews Solomon and Morrison, OR; grandchildren Michael Hejny, Ely, NV, Katie (John McInerney), Sioux Falls, SD, Ned Sudbeck, Flagstaff, AZ, Joe (Anna) Sudbeck, Sioux Falls, SD, Caroline Sudbeck (fiance Caden Tegethoff), Portland, OR, Sydney (Michael Schueler), Brugg, Switzerland, and Jenny (George) and Alex Jessup, Los Angeles, CA; as well as his great-grand children George and Hugh McInerney, and Gemma and Oliver Jessup.

Gordon was born in Pierre, South Dakota, on March 3rd, 1937 at 3:33 a.m., which is why he counted 33 as his lucky number. When the Highway Patrol stationed Jeff Scott in Yankton, South Dakota the Scott family established Yankton as their permanent home. Gordon graduated from Yankton High School in 1955 where he participated in football, track, basketball, baseball, speech, debate, latin, and newspaper. As a youth, Gordon loved working on cars and motorcycles with his friends. He had an early model Indian motorcycle that originally belonged to his father and a 1940 Ford coupe that he bought with his own money and worked on.

He attended Yankton College his freshman year where he played football, before transferring to the University of South Dakota where he completed his B.A. in economics, business, and history in just two more years. He was a member of several scholastic organizations and the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. In the fall of 1959 he attended Harvard Law School. After his first year of Law School, he was accepted into the Naval Officer Candidate School in Providence, Rhode Island. His service brought him to Georgia where he met Sally Kemp and the couple was married July 6, 1960, in Dallas, TX. While Gordon was in the Navy, they were stationed in Oakland, California and  Kingsville, TX. Gordon liked his time traveling the Pacific and the ship was the USS Sirius, a WWII ship that had been built in 1941.

After the Navy, Gordon and Sally lived in Dallas, TX; Salisbury, North Carolina; Yankton, SD; Vermillion, SD; Golden, CO; Roseville, MN; and Sioux Falls, SD. Most of Gordon's career was spent working in college administration. He had a busy and fulfilling career working in the financial, fundraising, and endowment areas of higher education. He started his career at Yankton College in 1965 working under then President of YC Don Ward, whom he greatly admired. At this time, Gordon worked full time at YC and went back to USD where he pursued his MBA in Business Administration and his JD at USD Law School all while he and Sally were raising three children. His next career move was as Comptroller at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion. In 1974, Gordon became the Vice President of Financial Affairs at Colorado School of Mines in Golden Colorado. From there Gordon went to the University of Colorado at Denver and then Metropolitan State University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Gordon and Sally retired to Sioux Falls, SD in 1999 where they spent a lot of time with family and friends.

Gordon loved reading, writing, traveling, and supporting his children and grandchildren in their endeavors. He was curious, well-spoken, and kind and was admired for his work ethic and warm nature.   He was very fond of South Dakota, and forgiving of its weather. He had tremendous knowledge of South Dakota history. He was a loving husband, son, brother, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather. His time with others was treasured and he will be greatly missed by his family and friends.

Ashes will be distributed by family at a later date.