William Russell Gregg Jr.

William “Bill” Russell Gregg, Jr., 78, passed away peacefully at home in Baton Rouge surrounded by his family on Sunday, May 10, 2026. He is survived by his wife of 59 years, Marcia Brown Gregg; as well as his daughter Melissa Gregg Blake; son Jared Russell Gregg; grandson Benjamin Gregg Blake; and granddaughter Ashley Alexandra Blake. He is also survived by his brother Gary Donald Gregg and his sister Ann Elizabeth Gregg, along with numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents, William Russell Gregg, Sr. and Phyllis Donna Carmichael Gregg.

Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on November 8, 1947, Bill spent his young school years there and in Houston, Texas with his parents and siblings. They moved to Buras, Louisiana in 1957. At the age of 13, he met his future wife Marcia, where they attended and graduated from Buras High School. They then moved to Baton Rouge and married in January 1967 while attending Louisiana State University.

After graduating from LSU in 1970 with a degree in Microbiology, he returned to Plaquemines Parish, residing in Belle Chasse. He then obtained his Master of Arts in Science Teaching in Physics and Chemistry from the University of New Orleans. He was Department Chair and taught Chemistry, Physics, and Physical Science at Belle Chasse High School for twenty years. “Coach Gregg” also spent those twenty years coaching football and basketball.

During this time, he distinguished himself locally and nationally by accepting adjunct teaching roles at the University of New Orleans, Cornell University, California Polytechnic University, Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota, University of Tennessee, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Washington state, University of Maine, and the University of Maryland.

In 1992, he developed the PTRA (Physics Teacher Resource Agent) program sponsored by the National Science Foundation to train and conduct workshops for Physics teachers throughout Louisiana. This ultimately led to Louisiana State University offering him a full-time teaching position in Physics, where he taught in Baton Rouge for 16 years until his official retirement. However, not wanting to fully “retire,” he accepted two additional teaching opportunities at St. John Catholic School and Brighton Academy, as well as several years of tutoring high school and college physics students.

Throughout his career, he was awarded numerous distinctions, including the Tandy Tech National Science teacher of the year, Most Outstanding Science Teacher of Louisiana, and Chemistry Teacher of the Year by the American Chemical Society. The curricula he wrote and developed are still being used today, such as the Louisiana State Physics Curriculum Guide and the “Polymer Chemistry” teaching supplement, in addition to the textbooks he authored entitled “Activity Book for Physics Teachers” and “Activity Book for Chemistry Teachers.”

He was a 25-year member, Deacon, and youth Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Belle Chasse. During his years at Belle Chasse, he spent his summers doing mission work through the Southern Baptist Convention. He proudly served in Indonesia, Singapore, Honduras, Zimbabwe Africa and Israel, building and starting new churches through Partnership Evangelism.

His retirement years were spent enjoying time with his wife, children and grandchildren, and being actively involved in church activities at Jefferson Baptist Church in Baton Rouge.

Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Visitation and Memorial Service on Saturday, May 16, 2026, at Jefferson Baptist Church, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Visitation to begin at 9:00 a.m. followed by a memorial service at 11:00 a.m. Interment will be held with immediate family at a later date at the Reverend Thomas Price Cemetery in Wiggins, Mississippi.

Family and friends may sign the online guestbook at www.resthavenbatonrouge.com

Memorial donations may be made in his memory to either the Louisiana Baptist Children’s Home at www.lbch.org or a Lottie Moon mission offering in his memory through Jefferson Baptist Church: 9135 Jefferson Hwy, Baton Rouge, La 70809.