John William “Billy” Lynch, who served six Nashville mayors over a distinguished 45-year career of public service for Metro Nashville Government, and who played a significant role in the integration of sports in Nashville and Tennessee as a student-athlete at Father Ryan High School in the early 1960s, passed away this morning after a short illness. He was 79.
Born in Nashville on June 22, 1946, to Connie and Agnes Lynch, Lynch was a proud product of Catholic education, graduating from Cathedral Grade School and Father Ryan High School. At Father Ryan, he was a three-sport athlete – football, basketball, and baseball – All-State for the Irish for their 1963 Clinic Bowl Football Championship season, All-Region for the basketball and baseball teams.
His proudest and most significant athletic moment was on the basketball team his senior year when the team welcomed Willie Brown and Jesse Porter, the first Black students to integrate sports in Tennessee. As a graduate of the two schools – Cathedral and Father Ryan – that were the first to integrate, in 1954, and his close relationship with Brown, who died in 1975, and his classmate, Porter, Lynch was always proud to tell that story and was always welcome in the North Nashville community. When he coached his grade school basketball team in 1964-1966, which had no school gym, he would load his car with his players and drive past Fisk University to the Saint Vincent School gym to practice, visiting teammates and friends on the practice court and along the way.
That familiarity with and embrace of communities across the city informed his professional career. After graduating from MTSU in 1968, Lynch began his career with Metro Government, then in its early years, and launched a five-decade career that would have a positive and lasting impact across the city. Starting in the Human Resources department, he became the youngest assistant director, at age 25, of any Metro department. After obtaining his master’s degree in criminal justice from MTSU in 1978, Lynch was appointed Deputy Sheriff in 1979. He returned to Human Resources in 1987 as director, and then was asked to serve as interim Fire Chief in 2000. Another stint in Human Resources saw him oversee the merger of the Benefit Board with Human Resources before he took over as Director of Public Works. Mayor Karl Dean asked him to become interim Fire Chief in 2012.
After the 2010 floods, Lynch and his staff at Public Works organized and directed the massive clean-up of the city in less than 30 days. Then-Mayor Dean praised his work across his half century of service. “All Billy has ever wanted to do was serve the people of Nashville,” Dean said, “and he has done so in a way that has made me and five mayors before me very proud.”
Lynch and his wife of 53 years, Donna Ozment Lynch, have been longtime supporters of Father Ryan and Catholic education, with Lynch serving on the inaugural Selection Committee for the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame and participating in a number of panels about the integration of sports in 1963. He was also a regular figure on the sidelines or courtside at Irish games, cheering on his children and grandkids and connecting with his friends from across the Nashville community. The Lynchs’ commitment to the school is shown in their family, with all of their children and grandchildren having graduated from or currently attending Father Ryan.
Lynch was predeceased by his parents, his brother, Bubba Lynch, and his sister, Boo Lynch. He is survived by Donna, their son Michael Lynch and his wife, Brandie; daughter Lindsey Lynch Magness and her husband, Stuart, and youngest daughter Julie Lynch McWright; his sister Margaret Ann (Lynch) Hubbuch, and his brother, Tommy Lynch, and his wife, Marla; grandchildren Will, Carter, Brodie, Parker, and Tyler Lynch, MaKenzie, Griffin, and Lynch Magness, and Adam, Olivia, and Madeline McWright.
Visitation with the family will take place on Sunday, November 9, from 4:00-7:00pm with a memorial Mass on Monday, November 10, 2025, at 1:00pm, celebrated by Father Joe McMahon. Visitation and Mass will be held at Saint Henry Catholic Church, 6401 Harding Road, Nashville, Tennessee 37205. The family has asked that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Father Ryan Tuition Assistance Fund or to the Ladies of Charity.
