Described by the Toronto Star as a "dyslexic, colour-blind, wildly creative sculptor", he died less than two weeks after being diagnosed with leukemia.
[citation needed] In 1988, he became the first person to lead a flight of geese with an aircraft, and in 1993, the first to conduct an aircraft-led migration of birds.
Carrick provided goslings, who Bill and his children worked with daily, eventually doing twice-daily runs on a motorcycle with the geese flying with him, then switching to the ultra-light.
[2] Aviation, the training of 60 geese for the production, and on-set goose-wrangling by the Lishman family and others, as well as six ultralight aircraft, were purchased by producers in a later contract worth $1.4 million.
[2] The film took significant liberties with the Lishman story, replacing his sons with a daughter from New Zealand (Anna Paquin), who hasn't seen him since age 3.
The mother is killed at the start of the film, and Lishman's character (Jeff Daniels) has a girlfriend (Dana Delany).
[2] The film earned a nomination for Best Cinematography at the 1996 Academy Awards Deals for his autobiographical book Father Goose were signed in the summer of 1994, with Little, Brown Canada, Orion UK, and Crown USA, with advances totalling $300,000.
[2] Rights to companies in France, Germany, Japan, and Norway were signed as a result of attention at the 1994 Frankfurt Book Fair.
[2] By 2007, Lishman was in the second year of development and construction of an ultralight called a "rescue trike", meant to reduce the cost flying food and medical supplies into aid situations.
[8] Lishman completed numerous public works of art, including a sculpture for The Vancouver World's Fair (EXPO '86) Transcending the traffic is a 85-foot-high, tower representing transportation.
He has also created 8 major wildlife pieces featured in the 3D IMAX film The Last Buffalo (1990), directed by Stephen Low.
[2] Lishman created two sculptures for the Medieval Faire section of Canada's Wonderland, as well as some smaller works for buildings signage.
[10] In 2015 Lishman produced and self-published a coffee table book highlighting views of the Oak Ridges Moraine from Above which was its title.
Lishman's father was a dairy farmer, said to be "handy with machinery", and his mother, raised as a Quaker, had a master's degree in biology from the University of Toronto.
[2] He lived in Blackstock with his wife Paula Lishman, a fashion designer and president of the Fur Council of Canada.
[2] In 2005 he hosted an episode of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation documentary series The Nature Of Things on the topic of renewable energy.
In 2000 the Canadian government awarded him the Meritorious Service Medal for bringing honour to Canada for his pioneering work with migratory birds.
For ten years Lishman presented over 50 keynote speeches to various organizations around the world and was the guest speaker on 20 adventure expeditions on small cruise ships to remote parts of the planet, including both polar regions.
[12][13] Starting in 2015, Lishman and his wife began to share a rented home near Oaxaca, Mexico with another couple for six weeks in the winter.
[14] The resulting 2,600 square foot structure, described as an "underground home with igloo-like domes ... overlooking the Purple Woods valley and Lake Scugog",[7] includes six circular rooms,[14] made from onion-shaped steel domes covered in steel squared netting, metal lath, sprayed inside with a layer of concrete.
Lishman died at his home and his son Aaron said that "his passing was peaceful, surrounded by family and friends.