Bill Francis, a versatile journalist in his hometown of Louisville for 42 years, was the first full-time business reporter for a Kentucky television station. His versatility showed through as he adapted to changing technologies and ownerships and won awards. After graduating from the University of Louisville in political science, he started as a clerk for WAVE in 1972 and worked his way into radio reporting and finally to TV. Moving to WLKY-TV as a political reporter in 1978, he became anchor of the morning news, which he also wrote and produced. In 1990 he joined the newly formed news department at WDRB-TV as an anchor, then developed the business reporting beat. Viewers told the station that he reported news they couldn’t get elsewhere; subjects of his stories acknowledged his accuracy and fairness; and his colleagues and competitors recognized him as a valuable servant to his viewers and his newsrooms, especially to the younger journalists he mentored.