Photo via Lyles Diversified

Pioneering Central Valley businessman and philanthropist William “Bill” M. Lyles died on Wednesday at 91 years old after an extended illness.

Lyles led Lyles Diversified for more than five decades, growing the company along with the City of Fresno and serving the community.

Under his leadership, and with the support of generations of dedicated employees, partners and his brother Gerald, the company diversified and became one of the leading private businesses in the region.

Subsidiaries in the Lyles Diversified group include American Paving Co., New England Sheet Metal and Mechanical Co., Lyles Services Co., and Advanced Integration & Controls, which was founded in 2025.

They had a hand in several hospital projects, including Clovis Community Medical Center, Madera Community Hospital and Valley Children’s Hospital.

His son, Will Lyles, who is now president of Lyles Diversified, said the company is now owned by second, third and fourth-generation family members, along with employees.

“It’s a family-employee business and that’s our secret sauce,” Will said. “It’s something my grandparents started right off the bat, my dad built on it, and we’ve just had wonderful employees generation after generation and we’ve been a team.”

Lyles was known for his passion for improving the economic vitality of the Fresno region. He dedicated decades of efforts to community service, leadership roles, and philanthropic support for many non-profit organizations and causes.

He supported the Lyles School of Engineering at Fresno State, which is named after him, founded upon his belief that the expansion of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in the Central Valley would create quality jobs and improve the local economy.

Lyles was fond of the arts, particularly music, serving as a board member for the Fresno Philharmonic Association, the Fresno Opera Association, the Fresno Arts Council and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum.

Will said that during his father’s presidency of the Fresno County Chamber of Commerce, he brought in minorities to diversify and integrate.

He also firmly pushed for Measure C, which was first passed in 1986, to build highways and roads.

Will said at the time that there wasn’t really a good road across the city, but his father, with the help of others in the chamber, was instrumental in improving transportation in the area.

A generous builder

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Nov. 27, 1933, his parents, Bill Sr. and Elizabeth Lyles, moved the family to Avenal in 1945. At 13, he began working on a construction crew as a welder’s helper.

He earned his civil engineering degree at Purdue, graduating in 1955. He served in the U.S. Navy as a peacetime officer before returning to California to join the family business.

Lyles and his father spent a year in Germany to work on the only overseas project the company had ever pursued. After his father’s accidental death in 1965, Lyles was tasked with leading W.M. Lyles Co., an infrastructure and heavy civil construction company founded in 1945.

Colin Dougherty, the founding general manager and first president/CEO of ValleyPBS, first met Lyles in 1977, the year the station was founded. Lyles was the first board chairman for ValleyPBS when it became incorporated.

He said Lyles helped the station in so many ways with his reputation and business connections.

“He has probably helped every organization in this city,” Dougherty said. “He’s been a guiding light for many people and organizations. He was an unbelievable individual to serve his community.”

In his memoir published in 2019, “The Joy of Building: My Life in Business, Community Affairs, and Philanthropy,” he shared his dreams, disappointments, and life lessons.

“The Joy is in the building, not the having,” Lyles would say.

Will said his father really enjoyed the process, not the final destination—he got the pleasure from building.

Will said his father was conservative, but he had the heart of a liberal and tried to bring those points together.

Lyles is survived by his wife of 36 years, Anne, whom he met during a year in high school and reconnected with later in life, and his children and grandchildren.