Bill's obituary read as follows:
Florida State University [FSU] Economics Professor William J. Serow, who taught internationally and consulted with many countries on their population growth and demographic changes, died Nov. 5 in Halle, Germany, at the age of 57. Serow was in Germany as a guest lecturer and visiting faculty member at Martin Luther Univesität Halle-Wittenberg in Halle.
Until June of this year, Serow directed the FSU Center for the Study of Population, where he conducted research on the economics and demography of aging, internal migration, and applied demography. He also taught the economics of population, applied economic demography and the economics of aging for the FSU Department of Economics, and has published numerous books and articles on demography. He has served on the faculty at FSU since 1981.
An avid world traveler, Serow consulted with foreign governments, including Indonesia and the Netherlands, was a professor at FSU's Florence, Italy, campus, and was a visiting professor at Technische Universität Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Germany and at Charles University in Prague, Czech Replublic. A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Serow was a long-time Tallahassee resident who earned an A.B. in Economics from Boston College in 1967, an M.A. in Economics from Duke University in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Economics from Duke University in 1972.
He was an active member of the Faculty and Friends Club of Florida State University, and has served on the board of the Tallahassee Little Theater, was a member of Good Shepherd parish, and served (beyond the period required out of paternal duty) as the Cookie manager for Girl Scout troop 232.
He was a passionate (if disgruntled) fan of the Boston Red Sox and Brooklyn Dodgers, and loved all things pertaining to Sherlock Holmes, trains and train schedules, wine, and world travel. He was an avid reader and puzzle solver and had an endless appetite for useless information, which he relished sharing with friends.
He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth Serow, also of Tallahassee, daughter, Erika Serow, of New York, N.Y., sister, Barbara Carter of Tallahassee, sister, Mary Louise Fanning of Brooklyn, New York, and brother, Robert Serow, of Raleigh, North Carolina, and many nieces, nephews and close friends.
A scholarship has been established in his name with the FSU Foundation.