William ‘Bill’ Grimm Retires From Longtime Service as Diocesan Vice Chancellor

After 26 years of service as vice chancellor to the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, Mr. William “Bill” Grimm has retired from his position. “I have elected to be an inactive member of the Florida Bar, and as such, I can no longer practice law,” he said in a letter to the Rt. Rev. Dr. Justin S. Holcomb, adding, “When I did that, I had to retire as vice chancellor.”

“I have been considering this status for several years,” Grimm wrote. “I’ve been a lawyer for 50 years and have been privileged to serve as vice chancellor for many of those years. … the time has come for me to retire from practicing law.”

Grimm came to the voluntary role in what can only be seen as a surprising way. He walked onto the floor of the second day of the annual Diocesan Convention on Jan. 30, 1999, to hear unexpected comments such as “Congratulations on your appointment!” “That’s wonderful about your new position!” “You’ll do a great job!” Diocesan Board members were congratulating him on his appointment as vice chancellor by the diocese’s third bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Howe. Grimm had missed the first night of Convention business, and he knew nothing of Howe’s appointment until others informed him.

The new position of service may have surprised him, but it was not surprising in light of what he described as his “serious knowledge” of the diocesan canons. “I had been on the Diocesan Board prior to that for three years, and I was later asked by the bishop to review our canons for any ambiguities, looking for whatever needed to be clarified,” he said. “I went through the canons in detail, and I reported on this work approximately a year before he appointed me. To my knowledge, there had never been a vice chancellor in our diocese, but our canons provide for that position.”

Grimm specialized in corporate and securities law for 40 years, and after retiring from his law firm, taught for 15 years in the MBA program at the Rollins College Crummer School of Business.

“Butch Wooten was chancellor,” he said. “He and I worked together. I was the canon lawyer and reviewed corporate actions by the parishes. Butch took care of litigation, real estate and other matters. He was an outstanding chancellor and served longer than I did as vice chancellor.”

Just as he heard congratulations on all sides after the bishop’s appointment, Grimm is now receiving thanks and praise from those who have worked with him through the years, including past and present bishops. “I want to express my deep and heartfelt gratitude for your decades of faithful, wise, and generous service to the Diocese of Central Florida,” Holcomb said in his response to Grimm’s retirement letter. “Your legal insight, steady counsel and longstanding commitment to the Church have been a gift to me and so many. You have served with humility and integrity, and your work has had a lasting impact on the life and witness of this diocese. … While I fully respect and understand your decision to step into this new chapter, please know that your presence, wisdom, and legacy will be missed. You have been a model of faithful vocation in both the legal and ecclesial spheres, and I am profoundly thankful for you.”

Most of Grimm’s service as vice chancellor came during the episcopacies of Howe and the Rt. Rev. Gregory O. Brewer, fourth bishop of the diocese. “Bill was always available to help out with the legal matters of the diocese,” Brewer said. “No one could think through canon law better than he could. Bill also had an eagerness to do the work and do it with excellence. His upbeat attitude was infectious. When it came to legal matters Bill was a stickler for detail, which is precisely the sort of counsel we needed in canon law matters. To put it simply, it was a joy to have him around.”

Howe also had positive words about his service as vice chancellor and his longtime partnership with Chancellor Emeritus Council “Butch” Wooten Jr. “I can’t speak of Bill Grimm’s work for the Diocese of Central Florida without mentioning Butch Wooten as well,” he said. “They became the A-Team for all legal issues for the diocese, the Diocesan Board and the bishop.

“We faced some thorny legal issues as it was a time of ‘disaffiliation’ of several of our clergy and parts of their congregations,” he continued. “The team of Wooten and Grimm helped us deal amicably with those who felt they had to leave The Episcopal Church. They are both, in the finest sense, Christian statesmen.”

“Bill Grimm’s stellar service to the diocese as vice chancellor, working alongside Chancellor Butch Wooten for many years and with me for the last year and a half, is irreplaceable, and he will be sorely missed,” said Chancellor Todd Pittenger, who succeeded Wooten as diocesan chancellor upon his 2024 retirement. “Bill’s long-term corporate practice experience made him a natural for the numerous governance document issues that routinely come up, and he always played a key role at each of the Diocesan Annual Conventions. We wish him a happy and restful retirement.”

The Rev. Canon Ernie Bennett, who served as canon to the ordinary from 1993-2014, under first Howe, then Brewer, echoed others’ positive comments. “Bill has been one of my favorite people for so long,” he said. “He would take crazy ideas and concerns of mine, tweak them, and make them lawful and respectable. I was privileged for over 20 years to work with congregations, often conflicted congregations. Bill would ask about what resources we needed to be helpful, and then we would get to work. Quite a number of our canons came via that route! … I could always count on Bill to be a patient listener and a resourceful counselor. He and Butch Wooten were a wonderful team. We are the richer for their incredible gifts and willingness to serve.”

“Bill’s legal expertise and strategic mind were vital supports for our bishops and diocese, and a tremendous comfort,” said the Rev. Canon Tim Nunez, former canon to the ordinary (2014-2018) and current rector at Good Shepherd, Lake Wales. “His good humor relieved stress in difficult circumstances. Whenever we worked together on revisions to the canons or policies, he would offer advice to ‘manage mischief.’ In my experience, he was always wise, always right.”