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William D Duncombe (Bill) was a professor of public administration in the Maxwell school of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. Bill first came to Maxwell as a graduate student in the mid-1980s. He received his MPA in 1987 and his PhD in public administration in 1989. Bill's first academic job was teaching public administration at the University of Georgia, but he returned to Maxwell in 1991 and stayed 22 years until his untimely death on May 11, 2013.

Bill was well known for his dedication to his students. In 2006 he received the Excellence in Graduate Education Faculty Recognition Award from Syracuse University, and in 2001 he was the first recipient of the Birkhead-Burkhead Teaching Excellence Award and Professorship given by Maxwell's Department of Public Administration and International Affairs. His teaching skills were also recognized by the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, which gave him the Leslie Whittington Excellence in Teaching Award in 2006.

During his 22 years at Maxwell, Bill taught public budgeting and statistics to hundreds of MPA students, and he introduced education policy into the MPA curriculum. He also mentored dozens of PhD students, many of whom now teach public budgeting and financial management in public administration departments around the country and around the world.

Bill had an international reputation for his research on education finance, property taxes, public budgeting, and financial management. His 66 main publications include one book along with 51 articles in leading professional journals and 14 chapters in professional books. He was selected as the editor of Public Budgeting and Finance in 2011, elected as a fellow in the National Academy of Public Administration in 2010, and given the Aaron Wildavsky Award for lifetime achievement in budgeting and financial management scholarship by the Association of Budgeting and Financial Management in 2009. He also received the Richard A Musgrave Prize for the best article in the National Tax Journal in 2011.

Bill also made important contributions to public debates about school finance reform. These contributions include testimony in court cases concerning education finance reform in Missouri and Texas and a co-authored Amicus Curiae brief for the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court case in New York. In addition, he served as a consultant in the design of education finance formulas for the New York State Education Department; the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and Maryland; and the City of St. Louis.

Bill is among the most respected scholars in the field of public administration beloved by colleagues and students alike for the extraordinary dedication he has provided to so many. He is remembered for his good humor and remarkable generosity as well as his many accomplishments. Bill is survived by his wife Julie and two sons, David and Christopher.