Jan. 10--A former longtime Winnetka teacher and Scout leader accused of sex crimes against children died at his northern Michigan home late Friday, ending the prospect that he will stand trial on criminal charges and leaving behind lingering questions about his life that will now likely remain unanswered.
Bill Bricker, who had been in failing health and who was fighting extradition to Wyoming, where he was charged with sexually abusing three children, spent his final months on home confinement and receiving hospice care after his September arrest at a nursing home in Traverse City.
He died about 10 p.m. Friday, his attorney Michael Lewis said. Bricker was 94. A director at Martinson Funeral Home in Suttons Bay, Mich., said Bricker will be cremated and that no services or obituary are planned.
It marks in an inauspicious ending for a man who was a near-legendary figure in Winnetka for decades. William Hartwell Bricker taught physical education at Hubbard Woods School from 1949 to 1985 and was a local Boy Scout leader for even longer, interacting with generations of local children, many of whom also attended a camp in Wyoming where he worked every summer.
Returning to his hometown after World War II -- Bricker had attended Hubbard Wood School as a boy -- he was lauded as a hero and years later was named Winnetka's Man of the Year. If he had died even a few months earlier, his public legacy might look very different.
But since he was charged last fall with molesting two boys at the Wyoming camp in 1962 and 1985 -- a third charge alleging he abused a female camper in 1968 was added later -- several people have come forward to the Tribune, the authorities or both to say that they, too, were molested by Bricker as children, including the son of a man who was Bricker's superintendent at Winnetka School District 36. Many said Bricker molested them on overnight Scouting trips; others said he fondled or kissed them at Hubbard Woods School.
The Tribune also revealed that Bricker continued to teach, serve as a scoutmaster and work at the summer camp long after parents began to bring complaints about Bricker to school officials, which began at least as early as 1968, records obtained by the Tribune show.
"It's a sad, sad case," Tim Berg, of Evanston, said after hearing of Bricker's death.
Berg, 61, told the Tribune last month that Bricker fondled him during Berg's first and only camping trip with the Boy Scouts in a Cook County forest preserve in the mid-1960s. He never complained to his parents or authorities, he said, and assumed that Bricker had died long ago until he read about the charges facing his former Scout leader in Wyoming.
"Over the past few weeks ... I heard more about the school administration, about their ignoring warning signs," Berg said. "That concerns me. I just hope this leads to more attention on the part of school districts and people in charge of the care of children, that they do more due diligence on people who are in charge of kids."
Since being featured in the Tribune, Berg said, "people have come forward to express their support. Nobody has said anything bad."
Another man who said Bricker molested him at a Boy Scout camp in the 1960s was blunt in his reaction to Bricker's death.
"I'm glad he's dead," said the 62-year-old man, who still lives in the Chicago area.
"This is a man who did a lot of damage to a lot of people. I am glad he was shamed ... before he died," the man said. "Even though he won't be brought to justice, it was a lot of justice that his name was dragged through the mud."
Like others, he blamed authority figures who missed opportunities to follow up on complaints about Bricker.
"It accentuates the lack of action by the schools and others in positions of authority, despite all the evidence," he said. "He should have been brought to justice decades ago."
A 71-year-old man who said he was molested by Bricker in the mid-1950s during several overnight hikes said "the passing of any person is not cause for celebration. However, I do think that it's time to understand who that person really was and we begin to see the tip of that iceberg.
"I am very pleased that he didn't leave with the world continuing to adore him," the man said.
The Tribune has agreed not to name the men as claimed victims of sexual abuse.
After Bricker's arrest, District 36 officials released hundreds of pages of his personnel records and released a statement saying, "We believe it is our responsibility to be forthcoming with the community, and we want potential victims to know how seriously this School Board takes these issues."
Those documents, along with police and court records from Winnetka, Wyoming and Michigan and dozens of Tribune interviews, showed that concerns about Bricker's behavior with children were repeatedly raised during his career and that, after his retirement, district officials consulted with Cook County authorities at least once about Bricker.
But those who raised the alarm bells about Bricker said the pressure to avoid a public scandal was severe, and in some cases even Bricker's accusers were reluctant to pursue a criminal investigation.
The earliest known report against Bricker came in 1968, when a Boy Scout came home to Winnetka from an overnight hiking trip and told his father that Bricker had molested him while the two shared a sleeping bag. Records and interviews show that claims was brought to school authorities, that police were contacted and that other boys also stepped forward with similar claims.
"My personal opinion at this date is that the boys are telling the truth as they understand it," then-Superintendent Paul Avery wrote to another administrator in June 1968.
Bricker was sent for a psychiatrist examination and removed from an after-school program, yet continued to teach for almost 20 more years. Authorities in Winnetka said a formal complaint was placed on file until 2014, when other alleged victims stepped forward after Bricker's arrest.
Even after his 1985 retirement, Bricker was allowed to return to District 36 as a substitute for several more years, even though by then other complaints had emerged.
Personnel records released by the school district also include a Nov. 9, 1979, memo written by an unnamed school official who met with Bricker in response to "recent complaints ... from teachers, parents and youngsters."
The 1979 memo coincides with the same time frame in which a woman recently reported to Winnetka police that as a Hubbard Woods student, Bricker led her to a playground storage shed, where he gave her an unwanted, open-mouthed kiss.
Among the concerns in the 1979 memo was that Bricker engaged in too much "physical contact with students, i.e., sitting on the lap, kissing, etc."
"I reminded Bill that the old adage, 'Keep your hands off kids' was really best," the memo writer said.
The stack of memos and letters to lawyers released by the district also included a single handwritten page of notes dated Feb. 23, 1995, that includes the cryptic phrase: "Could have 100 children abused."
The unsigned page of notes was apparently written years after Bricker's retirement and during the tenure of then-Superintendent Rebecca van der Bogert. The notes include references to the Cook County state's attorney and a school district lawyer, as well as phrases that appear to say: "Letting sleeping dogs lie may be more helpful," "Statute of limitations anyway" and "no proof."
It's not clear who wrote the memo or whether Cook County prosecutors were actually contacted.
Van der Bogert has not responded to repeated requests for comment.
The Wyoming criminal complaint also shows that during an investigation of Bricker earlier this year, a former Teton Valley Ranch Camp director told authorities that during a 1998 camp recruitment event in Boston, a former camper told him that he was repeatedly molested by Bricker during his visit to the camp in 1985.
Murphy Monroe, the son of former District 36 Superintendent Donald Monroe, has told the Tribune that he is the former camper who confronted the camp director in the 1990s.
Murphy Monroe, now 40 and a college administrator in Chicago, told the Tribune in December that he is the alleged victim behind the 1985 Wyoming charge. He said he decided to speak out now to add credibility and a human face to the claims against Bricker, and to be an advocate for other victims of sexual abuse.
Records released by District 36 also show a previous camp operator was aware of the 1968 claims against Bricker that had been made in Winnetka. The camp director wrote a letter in support of Bricker.
"We know that there is always the danger of being misjudged when we show some youngster a little affection, even though the one thing the boy or girl may need more than anything is just that," the camp director wrote in a letter dated May 20, 1968.
"Perhaps the reason that the troublemaker -- whoever it is -- thinks that something is wrong is because they have seen signs of your feeling friendly with youngsters," Wilson added.
An attorney for the camp, Robbin Levy Mommsen, confirmed Bricker last worked at the camp in 2002, the year it changed ownership.
