Bill Purcell (mayor)

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William Paxson Purcell III, born October 25, 1953, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is an American politician and lawyer. A Democrat, he served as the fifth mayor of the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County from 1999 to 2007. Before becoming mayor, Purcell spent ten years in the Tennessee House of Representatives (1987–1997), where he held leadership roles and focused on education, health care, workers’ compensation, and criminal justice. He also directed the Child and Family Policy Center at Vanderbilt University.

Purcell grew up in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, and studied at Hamilton College, where he was active in student government, before earning his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1979. He began his legal career with West Tennessee Legal Services in Jackson, Tennessee.

In 1999, Purcell ran for mayor of Nashville and won after a runoff. He was reelected in 2003 with a large majority and served until 2007, leaving office due to term-limit rules. After his mayoral term, he was a fellow at Harvard’s Institute of Politics and later became the institute’s director in 2008. He has since worked in private law practice in Nashville and taught public policy at Vanderbilt University; he also served as dean of the Public Service and Urban Affairs program at Tennessee State University. Purcell was a trustee of St. Bonaventure University from 2011 to 2020.

Purcell is married to Debbie Miller, has a daughter named Jessie, and lives in East Nashville’s Lockeland Springs neighborhood.