The son of Eastern European immigrants who left their small shtetl in Poland to seek a better life in America, Bill Alter grew up on Chicago’s South Side. Bill initially made a living as a salesman, traveling through Tennessee and Alabama, selling dresses for $10.75 each. Although his sales volume was respectable, profits were slim. Knowing that he could do better, Bill decided to pursue a different career, settling on real estate.

He got his start when he visited the office of legendary tycoon Arthur Rubloff and offered to work for free in exchange for learning the business. Rubloff declined, telling Bill that "You don’t get something for nothing." Undaunted, Bill vowed to teach himself the real estate business. He borrowed $3,000 from his parents to build a single-family home at Peterson and Kimball on Chicago’s North Side. Although the rookie homebuilder failed to do the necessary due diligence to do this successfully, he learned an expensive lesson and always carried this experience with him. Ultimately, Bill became an ardent champion of the careful planning and voluminous research that defined his career.

Always ambitious, Bill became Chicago’s first land broker and then a homebuilder, who constructed nearly 7,000 homes for postwar first-time buyers. He became known as the "sky broker" because of his practice of scouting sites from the air in a twin-engine airplane. In the following years, the projects grew larger and more complex as Bill worked to transform idle land into thriving communities. As the company grew in size, Bill focused on raising his firm’s professionalism by moving the company from a commodity builder to a one-stop solutions provider for major corporations in multiple national markets.

Equally impressive were his endeavors outside The Alter Group. In 1983, Bill was appointed to the Illinois State Commission on Science and Technology, and to the Build Illinois Committee in 1985. The latter initiative built economic stability through business expansion by providing more than $2.3 billion for infrastructure, housing and environmental projects.

Additionally, Bill was a member of the PACE Citizens Advisory Board; the National Realty Committee Board of Directors and Executive Committee; the Illinois Commission on Science and Technology; CoreNet Global; the Urban Land Institute; the National Association of Industrial & Office Properties; the International Real Estate Federation; and the Economic Club of Chicago. He was also a founding director of the Illinois Ambassadors. As a trustee of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Bill was a part of numerous delegations, meeting with, among others, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon; Shimon Peres; and King Abdullah of Jordan.

Bill is survived by his wife, Evelyn. He was the father of Michael, Harvey, Jennie, Jonathan, and the late Rhonda Alter; two stepchildren, Nicky Bliwas and Tony Winski; and had 13 grandchildren.