William F. Farley

William F. Farley (born October 10, 1942) is the sole owner of Farley Industries, a private equity firm based in Chicago. For 15 years (1985–1999), Farley was chairman and CEO of Fruit of the Loom. Currently, he is the CEO and majority owner of Zrii LLC, a health and beauty company based in Salt Lake City.

Farley was born the elder of two children to a working-class Irish Catholic family on October 10, 1942 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He was the son of John Farley, a postal worker and part-time musician, and Barbara Farley, a receptionist. Farley attended grade school at St. Leo's School in Pawtucket, and later became a recruited high school athlete and student at St. Raphael Academy, his father's high school. Farley graduated from St. Raphael's in 1960.

Farley attended Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, from 1960–1964, where he majored in government and earned an academic scholarship. At Bowdoin, he was a varsity athlete in football, swimming, and baseball. He received a Juris Doctorate from Boston College in 1969.

After graduating from Bowdoin in 1964, Farley traveled across the U.S. and Mexico for six months, eventually settling in Los Angeles. In Los Angeles., Farley sold Collier's Encyclopedia door to door. Within two years he was the company's leading salesman, and was appointed head of training for the national sales force. Farley entered the Boston College Law School in 1966, earning a J.D. in 1969.

After law school, Farley moved to New York City, where he took a job in the mergers and acquisitions division of NL Industries, a manufacturing company with a number of subsidiaries. At NL Industries, Farley did analysis on potential acquisition targets, and rose to director of long range planning and acquisitions. During this time, he pursued an M.B.A. at New York University. In 1972, Farley was transferred to Chicago, where he functioned as the regional manager of NL Industries' metals division.

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