William “Bill” Reeder, founding dean of George Mason University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA), died April 12, 2025, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Starting in 2001, Dean Reeder transformed the former Institute for the Arts into a comprehensive arts college, fueled by the expansion of the operating budget and the establishment of three new academic programs: Arts Management, Film and Video Studies, and Computer Game Design. He secured the award-winning Art and Design Building, the de Laski Performing Arts Building addition, and renovation of the Music Theater Building. His presence is enduring across Mason Arts.
Dean Reeder demonstrated the significance of the arts to personal and economic growth through community-facing programs such as the Center for the Arts and Mason Community Arts Academy. Some say his crowning achievement was the realization of a long-held community vision for Manassas and Prince William County, coordinating philanthropic, state, and university support to open the Hylton Performing Arts Center in 2010.
CVPA faculty, supporters, and alumni established the William Reeder, Founding Dean Endowment in the Arts in the summer of 2025. The fund will provide CVPA scholarships and support its performing arts centers, community arts programs, and the Green Machine.