A Celebration of life was held a few days ago for the man known as the Father of Angel Investing. But given the decades over which William (Bill) Payne nurtured both entrepreneurs and angel investors across the West, including this state, and even in foreign countries, it would be more appropriate to refer to him as “the Grandfather of Angel Investing.”

Payne, 82, died of dementia at his winter home in Henderson, NV, on Dec. 19.

One of those who attended the sharing of memories event in Nevada was Liz Marchi, a mutual friend whom I have described in several columns as the “queen of angel investing in Montana,” where Payne spent his summer months.

Marchi, who founded the Frontier Fund in the Flathead area of Montana in 2006 and went on to guide angel-investor groups in first Missoula then Bozeman as well as her own, told me Payne was a founding member of both her original fund and a subsequent one launched in 2014.

She described Payne as “wicked smart, generous, fair and an eloquent teacher,” adding, “No one shaped the world of angel investing more than Bill.”