William Robert "Bill" Bernau

William Robert "Bill" Bernau

Washington

William Robert "Bill" Bernau, 94, of Washington, Iowa, formerly of Iowa City, Iowa, passed away on Thursday, October 30, 2025, at the Halcyon House in Washington, Iowa.

The family will be present to celebrate Bill’s life from 1:00 until 3:00 p.m. Friday, November 7, 2025, at the Jones & Eden Funeral Home in Washington. Private family interment will take place at the Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City, Iowa. Memorials have been established for Boy Scouts of America or the Halcyon House Good Samaritan Fund. Online condolences may be sent for Bill’s family at www.jonesfh.com.

Bill was the son of Robert Mabb and Lulu (Tift) Bernau, born in Lake City, Iowa, on May 16,1931. He was raised in Lake City where he attended Lake City High School; was active in Boy Scouts (achieving the rank of Eagle Scout) and worked in his father's Iowa Theater. He was a lifelong proud graduate of Harvard College (1954) and the University of Iowa School of Law (1957). Bill began practicing law in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he met the love of his life, Kay Manwiller, at the Longbranch Supper Club in February of 1959. Bill and Kay married on January 2, 1960. Bill was active in Young Republicans and ran for Linn County Attorney in 1964. In 1966 he began a lifelong career in banking when he acquired the Peoples Savings Bank in Crawfordsville, Iowa, where he and Kay moved and raised their family.

Bill established Country Bancorporation and purchased banks in Walker, Center Point, Hiawatha, Riverside, Springville, Lone Tree and Iowa City, Iowa. Bill's love for Iowa banking led him to serve as Iowa's Superintendent of Banking from 1986 to 1987 (during the Farm Crisis) and he was a steadfast advocate for the idea of community banking, believing each Iowa town, and the state as a whole, was made better by having local banks. Bill and Kay moved to Iowa City, Iowa, in 1994 where he continued to be fully employed in banking until the day he died. He enjoyed traveling Western Europe, with a particular love of Paris and its surroundings. Subsequent to Kay's passing, Bill fell in love a second time and married Nancy Nelson Bernau in 2004 and he enjoyed the rest of his life together with Nancy.

He is survived by his wife, Nancy Bernau of Washington, Iowa; son, Tom Bernau of Des Moines, Iowa; son John (Amy) Bernau of Manchester, Iowa; daughter Heidi (Russ) Wagler of Wayland, Iowa; and eight grandchildren: Will Bernau, Coco Bernau, Cole (Jordan) Stephens, Nolan Bernau, Nick Bernau, Josie Wagler, Gaby (Aaron) Kuethe, and Sam Wagler. Bill was preceded in death by his parents; wife Kay in 2003; and sister Rachel Meyer, half-sister Virginia Harkin and stepsister Jeanette Briggs.