[3] McInnes lived in Boston during his early childhood before the family purchased a home in Quincy, Massachusetts.

[3] However, he enlisted in the United States Army in 1942 after noticing an ad on a Boston College bulletin board promising to train students as meteorologists.

[3] He travelled with the Army Air Forces as a meteorology officer during World War II, serving in China, Africa and India.

[3] He initially enrolled in Saint John's Seminary in Massachusetts following World War II, intending to become a diocesan Roman Catholic priest.

However, Father John Drummey, a professor at Boston College, recommended that he join the Jesuit order instead.

[4] However, he remained the president of both Fairfield and San Francisco simultaneously for four months during the Fall 1972 semester while transititioning between the two colleges.

[7] McInnes instituted a series of financial reforms which resulted in a corrected, balanced budget for the university.

[7] McInnes initiated negotiations which led to the acquisition of the now defunct San Francisco College for Women campus on Lone Mountain.

McInnes also founded the Fromm Institute for Lifelong Learning, a program for retirees, during his tenure as president.

[2] That same year, McInnes also became the parochial vicar of St. Thomas Aquinas Roman Catholic Parish in Storrs, Connecticut.

[2] He also became the faculty advisor for BC's chapter of the Alpha Sigma Nu Jesuit honor society.

[4] The memorial, which measures 70 feet long and commemorates members of the Boston College community killed in Vietnam, was dedicated on November 11, 2009.

[4] Father William McInnes died on December 8, 2009, from complications of cancer and a fall at the Campion Center Jesuit retreat facility in Weston, Massachusetts, at the age of 86.