William “Bill” Allegretti
August 9, 1946 - May 19, 2025
William “Bill” Allegretti, age 78, of Middletown DE, passed away peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, on Monday, May 19th, 2025.
Born on August 9th, 1946 in Brooklyn NY, he was the son of the late William and Carline (Marchica) Allegretti. Bill was hard working and dedicated. Spending 20 years of his early life as a New York City Mounted Police Officer where he was known for his encouragement and mentorship of mounted police trainees and his knowledge in training the horses they rode. His great compassion for animals served him well in the force and brought him immense joy throughout life. Everyone who knew him would agree that he had a unique ability to connect with animals. In fact, he had a special bond with every dog he met, always greeting them with the utmost love and affection.
Despite his many responsibilities, he always made time for his family and his numerous other passions such as photography, gymnastics, woodworking, learning to be a pilot, dressage, collecting vintage cars and motorcycles, and jazz music. He played the drums and went on to also build his own drum sets, building a reputation for his craftsmanship. These were smaller drums that would allow a more amplified sound for their size. Bill’s greatest talent, however, was his ability to make friends and build lasting relationships across all his endeavors.
Bill is survived by his loving wife Mary of 57 years, his daughters Jennifer and Adrienne and their respective partners, Dario and Roman. He also leaves behind many dear friends and extended family members who will miss him dearly. Bill’s legacy lives on through the lessons he taught, the love he shared, and the memories that we will cherish forever.
A celebration of life will be held privately.
In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Bill’s memory to Ryerss Farm for Aged Equines, 1710 Ridge Road, Pottstown, PA 19465 or online by clicking here.
Robert Peaco
My sincere condolences to the Allegretti family. Bill, I will miss our friendship. Rest in Peace my friend.
Jesse
Bill you will be missed! Thank you for all of the memories and bright moments. I love playing the drums you built, and it was a blast riding with you. Cheers to Triumphs, BMW’s, and side cars! Cheers to the good things and thank you!
Philip Cole
I am so sorry to hear the passing of Bill. My thoughts are with you and the family. I met Bill in London. I was Mounted Police and he stopped me in the street whilst riding near Piccadilly. He also came and visited the stables at Rochester Row and the changing of the guard where he also sat on my horse. I even have the NYPD t shirt he gave me and a mounted patch. We have kept in contact over the years. A passionate mounted man and we hit it off as soon as we met. A lovely man. I will always remember him. I will be there in spirit if not in person. Hang up your spurs Bill. RIP
Susan Suglia
Beautiful tribute of a life well lived. Bill was such a kind man he will be missed. Sending our condolences to Mary, Jen and Adrian during this difficult time of loss. Prayers for
Comfort, Pease & Strength are going out to all of you. May the Heavenly Choirs of Angels lead Bill to Paradise so he may be reunited with those who went before him and all his favorite pets too. He is at peace and free of the illness that slowly took him from the life he enjoyed living. He will guide you in the rest of your journey in life as your Guardian Angel.
I am here if you need anything. Sending love. 😘💕🙏🏻🙏🏻💪🏼🪽
Denise Allegretti
Uncle Billy I’m so sad you’re gone! You were definitely my favorite uncle. Your strength and confidence were always an inspiration. My earliest memories of you and Aunt Mary bringing me a giant stuffed Saint Bernard for Christmas one year. It was bigger than me. I’ll never forget when I was a little girl and you brought me to your gymnastics classes and had me walking on the balance beam or trying to do the uneven parallel bars. Later years, you inspired my dad to get a horse because you had a horse and those years of our lives were so full of joy and happiness. So so very sad to see you gone. You’ll always be in my heart.
Vanina
Jenn querida, te abrazo con el alma. No conocí a tu padre personalmente pero sí,a través del amor que le tenías, sin duda una gran hombre. Que descanse en Paz. Los quiero.
David Potter
Bill, I hope you are forever riding and resting in peace with either of your preferred mounts. It was an honor and a pleasure to know you, listen to your stories and words of wisdom and to call you my friend.
Thanks for all the time and encouragement you provided to not only myself but all those who you came in contact with and found an instant and effortless personal connection to.
Ride In Peace Sir!
Pao Y. Lin
Our condolences to the Allegretti family, My father Tung Ching Lin and Bill were long time friends. They shared some of the same passions, mainly flying. Bill and Mary and their two daughters were at our family restaurant every week. Bill always had a smile/smirk every time I saw him. We’re gonna miss him.
Sara Stanich
Our sincere condolences for your loss. The photos were a wonderful tribute. Sending love and prayers from the Stanich family in Montauk.
Jason Weschke
My Uncle Bill always made me laugh and had great stories to tell. Going to miss him dearly. I’m happy he is at peace and in Gods hands. Sending prayers up and all of our love to Aunt Mary, Jennifer, and Adrienne.
Joseph Pentangelo
It was a pleasure to have known Bill. He was one of my Remount instructors in the NYPD Mounted Unit in 1983. He was knowledgeable and patient with people and horses. I am glad to have known him and I learned much from him.
Li Lin
Bill & Mary were regulars at our families restaurant and they turned into good friends. Bill and dad had much in common, even though the came from very different backgrounds and they learned and shared from one another over the many years. We will cherish and honor knowing Bill and we send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to Mary & the his girls. Love, The Lin Family
Tracy and Matt Novacich
Mary and family, we are so sorry to hear of Bill’s passing. Bill was a member and great friend of the Mid-Atlantic BMW Riders group. MARs. And I have always been in awe of his motorcycle collection, especially his Triumph Jubilee‘s. As an equestrian, I loved to hear his stories of his days with the mounted police and particularly loved the picture of him on horseback, jumping a jersey barrier. But what will always stick out is the day he graciously took my Grandmom for a motorcycle sidecar tour around town for her 96th birthday. I’m not sure who had more fun that day, my Grandmom or Bill! It’s been a while since we’ve seen him and I’m sorry we let time slip by. Godspeed, Bill! You will be missed!
Jens Jessen
My deepest sympathy and condolences.
I am so glad I got to know Bill. He was such a nice person, and I liked him instantly the first time I saw and talked to him. It over by Peter Hovgård, while my son and I visited Peter. We clicked immediately and talked a lot about everything!
Later I wrote an article about him and his beloved Triumph Jubilee model i a magazine in Denmark whereI come from and live. He told about his childhood and his love for horses and animals even though he was from the city.
Danza Family(Jamaica Bay Riding Academy)
Deepest condolences to the Allegretti family.
Bill was a great man and great horse trainer. He spent many days at our farm in Brooklyn teaching children and loving horses. His impact and his memory will never be forgotten.
Rest In Peace.
– The Danza Family (Tony,Rosemarie, Anthony , Angelo, and Albert)
Laura Ahtes + Peyton Ahtes
Mary, Adrienne, Roman, Jennifer and Dario –
We are so sorry for your loss. We are thinking and praying for all of you during this difficult time. Bill was always smiling, laughing and telling us one of his stories – he was a great storyteller! He lived such an interesting and amazing life! He will truly be missed. We send you strength and love.
Gifford King
Love you brother,Goodbye.
Laura Davies
Our thoughts are with your lovely wife Mary and your beautiful girls. Rest in peace you legend. We are eating sausages and peppers 🫑 in your memory tonight. God bless xx
Herb Foster
Mary, Jen and Adrian,
My deepest condolences to you.
Bill and I met as colleagues with our respective Wildlife Departments. We had many great laughs and formed a friendship almost immediately. He was highly respected and a joy to work with. My staff also thought highly of Bill and always enjoyed his wry sense of humor. The “New York Yankee” was once misidentified by one of my guys who called him Al after not ever having heard his first name and thinking he was Al Lagretti. Bill had a big laugh about that.
I was always amazed by his intellect and broad range of interests from flying to jazz and drum building to his equestrian knowledge. He was a remarkable, funny and caring soul. Although we had lost touch, I will miss knowing he is here with us.
Again my heartfelt sympathy is with you.
Herb
Robin
I met Bill for the first time when I was about 9 years old. He had come to England to see Mick, now my mother’s partner of 30 or so years. Mick was a police man in the UK, as was Bill in America. Fast forward 20 years and I was in the US with work for a few weeks. Mick and Bill still being close friends, I was encouraged to contact Bill. Without hesitation, he drove over from Delaware to Annapolis and we went out for dinner. Bill insisted he paid. I had such a wonderful time with Bill, and he had such a cool and easy manner, it was just like meeting up with a dear old friend.
Another seven years later, I was posted out to Annapolis for three years. In that time, I really cemented a proper friendship with Bill. He and Mary made such an effort with me and my family, coming to see us at our place in MD and hosting us at their house in DE (and taking us out for Bill’s favourite ‘sausage and peppers’). I have lovely photographs of my oldest boy (then a toddler) on Bill’s tractor. I will always have fond memories of Bill’s stories about his upbringing and his time in NYPD, which I could have (and have) listened to for hours. Bill was such a fantastic bloke, that I was too polite to tell him that I didn’t like jazz; I’m glad I didn’t though, as I somehow still enjoyed witnessing first hand Bill’s unwavering passion for it… My lasting memory of Bill is sitting under the tree of solace enjoying a bottle of Leffe. An absolute gentleman and kindest of souls. Rest in peace, Bill.
Robin
Eric Brown
I’m so sorry about the passing of the Colonel (Bill). Bill and I worked together at the wildlife section of Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife. Bill was the state hunter education coordinator while I was a rangemaster at the Ommelanden Range. Bill was the main reason behind my support as a hunter education instructor. Whatever it took to run the required program and special course offerings for instructors and students, Bill’s never ending support was always there. He got dubbed the rank of Colonel because the other state coordinators in the northeast and mid-atlantic region at the time were all part of the enforcement sections of the respective states and he felt left out 😊. Bill and I became friends and I came to learn much from him and appreciated him very much. My heartfelt sincere condolences to all of you and my thoughts and prayers will be with you during this most difficult time. Bill, rest in peace my friend.
Mike and Pauline DiBernardo
So sorry to hear about your loss. Bill ,Philip and Aunt Lina visited and ate with us often and we spent many Christmas eves opening presents together. Bill and later Mary lived close by after Bill got out of the Air Force. I loved his mother and Bill was special to us, he is a good person and will be missed. Condolences , hope all of you are well. Love Pauline and Mike.
Peg Weschke
Sending my love and condolences to Mary, Jennifer and Adrienne. To all the wonderful memories we share.
Brad Thoms
So very sorry for your family’s loss. It was clear to me that Bill was a unique soul with his own take on life based on the one brief encounter I had with him at Thanksgiving a few years ago. The pictures you have shared reflect this and are proof of a life well lived.
Jessica Doucette
Thank you for allowing us to read about Bill, he was a man of many paths and achievements. We are wishing your family comfort and peace.
Frank Mogavero
So sorry to hear of Bill’s passing. My sincere condolences to the Allegretti family for their loss of Bill. Bill’s and I were good friends during our high school years even though he went to
James Madison H. S. ( I think) and I went to New Utrecht H. S. We both were very active in gymnastics at that time and would workout very often after school and weekends at the Brooklyn YMCA. Bill was a very special person, simply put, to know was to love him. He was very self confident about everything and in a way was a leader of sorts. He was one of the first in our group of friends to join the Airforce at a very young age. I think he was only 18. When he got out of the Airforce he immediately took a job as a security guard. Having not seen him for a long time, one day he proudly came to visit me in his fantastic and gorgeous sports car which added to his already proud possession of his BMW motorcycle. As life went on we went our separate ways and lost touch with one another until about 20 years ago we found each other on Facebook and agreed to meet one another. He graciously invited me and my wife Jennifer to his home to meet Mary and stay overnight. The next day he proudly showed me his motorcycle collection and we went for a ride around the neighborhood.
We will miss Bill as he was a very special person and tremendous loss to his family and friends
Scott Hoffman
My deepest condolences to Mary and family. I am honored to have known the sweetest tough guy I ever met,- you Billy.
I will forever cherish the drums I have that you made. See you on the other side, Godspeed!
Julia Peaco
My condolences to the family . Uncle Bill was a very special person, he will be missed. Robert , and I have so many great memories of him . My prayers are with you, during this difficult time.
Angel and Pat
So sorry for your loss. Our thoughts are with you and the family.
The memories will be in your heart forever. Love Pat and Angel.
Mandy Kelly-Gordines
I am sorry for your loss.
Adrienne, your dad shared his joy and gifts. I’m honored to have gone to the jazz club with you and to have witnessed his love of jazz, drums, and beautiful vehicles. Much love to the Allegretti family.
Michael McElhinney
A true legend.
Fond memories of some great times together over many years.
RIP Bill
Anise DeBouse
I was deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Bill. Please accept my sincere condolences. I know how much he meant to your family, and I can only imagine the depth of your loss.
During this difficult time, I hope you find comfort in the love of those around you and in the memories you shared with him. If there’s anything I can do to support you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Barry Smolowitz
Bill,
You are missed by all. You touched lives where ever you went. Our many years together in the NYPD and your love of so many hobbies brought so much joy to both our partneship on the job, and our friendship out of work. We rode together on both a mount (and owed a house or two together as well) and on a bike. At work we were a unique team! I still remember your famous words over the RMP PA “Hey what are you the human fly” when we chased down a car with persons riding on the running boards. Our time together later in life down at ground zero was equally rewarding. The friends you made where ever you went, including the british bobbies, was always amazing.
Bill, I will miss you. RIP
Until we meet again – Barry
Ron Robinson
My love goes out to you all.
Raye Davies
Sometimes in this life we meet people who are set apart from others,and they hold a special place in your heart.Such were the Allegretti family.Bill,i have very many fond memories of times in your company.My thoughts are with your lovely wife Mary and your two girls all of whom you were so proud and loved dearly.RIP Bill,we will never forget you.
Vicki
Mary, Jennifer and Adrienn, I am so sorry for your loss. Bill was a good man and good friend. He was also a great teacher and I was lucky to get his hand-me-down Police horses. He will be missed.