Paul Hamilton White, 1951-2025
Mr. White, who helped make community living possible for many Wisconsin citizens, passed away 17 June 2025
Paul Hamilton White, who nurtured and coordinated a now thriving system of services that permits individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities to live at home and independently in Wisconsin, passed away 17 June 2025. Mr. White contributed to establishing a coordinated array of programs providing behavioral supports that are affiliated with the University of Wisconsin Waisman Center for children, adolescents, and adults in the geographic region surrounding Madison.
When Mr. White first moved to the Madison area in 1980, after working in a special program for children with intellectual and behavioral problems in Illinois, he worked at a residential program for adults with disabilities. He became concerned about how people with disabilities could live independently with dignity in their neighborhoods, and created programs to support them. He became a faculty member for Waisman Center and was affiliated with it from 1986-2016. Upon his retirement he received an emeritus appointment and a Certificate of Commendation for his work from the state of Wisconsin. He also received many other awards for his contributions to the well-being of people in his community.
Those awards recognized the innovative services that Mr. White developed and instituted during his years at the Waisman Center. Among those services was the TIES Clinic. TIES—which stands for Training, Intervention, and Evaluation Services—provided behavioral consultation to individuals with IDD across ages and was a centerpiece of the suite of services. Mr. White considered it an important bridge to successful integration into local communities. Mr. White not only helped conceive and build TIES and other services, but he worked as a daily part of them, directly preparing programs for participating clients and championing individualization of programs according to individual needs.
Paul Hamilton White was the son of Carol and William White. He was born 5 April 1951 in Illinois and died 17 June 2025 at home in Freeland on Whidbey Island, WA. Mr. White attended Western Illinois University where he studied psychology and received a bachelors degrees. He took a masters degree in educational psychology from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He is survived by his daughter, Jenny, his wife Jacqueline Walisser, brother and sisters, nieces and nephews.
An obituary for Mr. White is available on Legacy. The Waisman Center hosted a celebration of his life on 16 October 2025. There is an informative interview from 2015 with Mr. White available from the Waisman Center.
Nice tribute.