William Overholtz was born and raised in Lima, Ohio. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in fresh waters fisheries and limnology from Ohio State and his Ph.D. from Oregon State. He began his career with the Fish and Wildlife Service at Rock Island, Illinois. In 1976, Overholtz began working at Woods Hole and completed many survey cruises on various foreign vessels His work focused on groundfish and herring. He spent time in the population dynamics group as well as working on acoustic surveys and assessment modeling. He retired from NMFS after 34 years of service.