William Gross Magee, who taught photography and graphic communications at Murray State University, died Aug. 31 at Mercy Health in Paducah.
Magee taught at Murray State for 25 years. He wrote and produced the book “Mammoth Cave Photographic Co. Then and Now.” The book took readers on a visual tour of the world’s longest cave system and recreates the photos of Charles L. Waldack who was the first to photograph the caves over 100 years ago.
Magee was born into a publishing family and grew up in Ballard County. He was a graduate of Murray State University and was a member of the Kappa Alpha Order fraternity.
In recent years, much of his free time was spent with family and with photographing eagles and other wildlife or attending concerts and photographing musicians.
He is survived by his wife of 42 years, Rebecca Oliver Magee; a daughter Sarah (Justin Mcfarland) Magee of Murray; a brother, Mike (Linda) Magee of Frankfort; and a sister, Ava (Vic) Siener of Paducah. He also is survived by two foster daughters Ashley Foster and Lizzy Cullen and a foster granddaughter Emily Newberry. He was the son of the late Alfred James (Pat) Magee and M. Juliette (Judy) Magee Stone of Wickliffe.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests a charitable contribution to Woodlands Nature Station care of Friends of LBL; located at 345 Maintenance Rd. Cadiz KY 42211 https://friendsoflbl.org/donations-and-campaigns.
