William was an electrical contractor who was president of CPS Contractors Inc. and lived in Falls Church. He died of kidney cancer April 11, 2001, at Inova Fairfax Hospital. After graduating from B-CC, he worked as a garden shop manager at Sears and Roebuck in Northwest Washington before becoming a contractor in 1977. He was a director and former president of the Northern Virginia Electrical Contractors Association.

Survivors included his wife, Glena Robey of Falls Church, and two children, William L. Robey Jr. of Manassas and Susan J. Robey of Richmond.