William “Bill” E. Knittig was devoted to improving the quality of life for the elderly and disabled communities in Arnold and Jefferson County, according to his colleagues and Arnold city officials.
Mr. Knittig died Wednesday (Dec. 16) from complications related to COVID-19, his wife, Dana Knittig said.
He was 60.
Dana Knittig said her husband had no pre-existing conditions prior to contracting the virus, and she encourages everyone to take all precautionary measures possible to limit the spread of the virus.
Mr. Knittig was the chairman of Arnold’s Commission on Aging and Disabilities since its creation in 2003, and he was the director of service coordination for Developmental Disability Advocates.
“He was the most generous, kind and helpful person someone could come across,” said Stacey Ismail, the executive director for DDA, who worked with Mr. Knittig for more than three years. “He had such a heart for giving of himself, his time and his talents. He has changed innumerable lives through his work, not only in Jefferson County but statewide and nationwide.
“I can’t tell you how many people from across the state have commented on Bill’s kindness, generosity and availability to help at any time.”
Arnold Mayor Ron Counts said Mr. Knittig will be greatly missed.
“He was a great guy” Counts said. “He had a passion to help the elderly and disabled communities. I think his whole life was built around that.
“I don’t think he will ever be able to be replaced.”
For more than 30 years, Mr. Knittig was a strong advocate for people with disabilities, and he celebrated his 25th anniversary with DDA in September, Ismail said.
Mr. Knittig began his career in 1983 teaching students with disabilities, and then he worked for five years for the Department of Mental Health (DMH) in St. Louis as a case manager before joining Next Step for Life in 1995 as the day program supervisor, Ismail said.
In 2002, Mr. Knittig was instrumental in beginning the service coordination program for the Jefferson County Developmental Disabilities Resource Board, now known as the DDA, Ismail said.
She said Mr. Knittig also helped many other counties in Missouri start and maintain service coordination programs, and seven years ago, he became a surveyor for the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities, an independent, nonprofit accreditor of health and human services. In his role as a surveyor, Mr. Knittig traveled the U.S. to compete survey work and help organizations improve, Ismail said.
She said Mr. Knittig was largely responsible for organizing volleyball marathons that raised $270,000 for Make-a-Wish and the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, and those funds fully granted 25 wishes.
He also participated in disaster relief operations with his church, Canaan Baptist Church in south St. Louis County, after Hurricane Katrina, the Joplin tornado and many other disasters, Ismail said.
Mr. Knittig was active with the Missouri Association of County Developmental Disabilities Services for many years and has served on several committees with DMH to help develop, improve or redesign processes and services for people with developmental disabilities. He also was a member of the Jefferson County Project Homeless Connect planning committee for the past couple of years, Ismail said.
“We at our organization will be forever changed by him,” Ismail said. “It is a loss we will never get over.”
Mr. Knittig was instrumental in the city of Arnold being named an “Age Friendly Community” in January 2018. The program is sponsored by the World Health Organization and the AARP.
Arnold is one of two communities in Missouri to receive the designation. St. Louis County is the other.
“He did an excellent job as the chairman of the Commission on Aging and Disabilities,” Arnold City Administrator Bryan Richison said. “He was a driving force in that group. He had a passion for serving the aging and disabled communities. It is going to be difficult to move forward without him. It is a big loss.”
Richison said Mr. Knittig not only brought passion to the Commission on Aging and Disabilities but also organization.
“Even before the AARP plan, the commission had a strategic plan,” Richison said. “He was very structured and organized. It was a well-run group because of him. They always had a plan.”
Mr. Knittig played a large role in reviving the Jeffco Express bus system in Arnold.
Arnold City Council members had voted in December 2019 to stop funding the city’s bus routes provided by Jeffco Express, which OATS Transit Inc. took over.
After OATS announced it would no longer be able to operate the city’s bus system without the local funding, Mr. Knittig worked with the Columbia-based company and Arnold officials to structure a new deal to get the service running again.
While Mr. Knittig’s work on the city’s Age Friendly Community designation and the restoration of the city’s bus service were high-profile projects, he completed a lot of work on behalf of the city that many may have not noticed, Counts said.
“He did things like get wider sidewalks, and other things that help improve the quality of life for the elderly and disabled communities,” Counts said. “In the 50s, we were a young community, and now, we have a large elderly population. One of the reasons our city has come so far in helping our aging and disabled communities is because of him.
“He was one in a million.”