Later he took on raising grain and hay on Mission Road near the eastern city limits, and in 1902 all three began a mortuary business under the name of Pierce Brothers & Company.

[2][3] Pierce, whose address was 2118 South Hobart Boulevard in Harvard Heights, died on February 24, 1939, at Chase Sanitarium after an illness of "little more than a week."

It was said his death was "hastened by grief over the loss of his son," Dr. Sterling Pierce, former chief of staff of California Lutheran Hospital, who was killed three months previous in a San Diego traffic accident.

[3] Funeral services for William Pierce were held at the First Unitarian Church, and burial was on his ranch property in Hemet, California.

The 51-member group was "an outgrowth of the City Planning Association formed primarily to prepare a program of civic improvements to create employment for returned soldiers of the World War."