PROFESSOR WILLIS

Professor Willis had been one of MacGyver's former college professors. MacGyver remembered him fondly as the toughest professor he ever had, but everybody loved him. Willis had a reputation for always putting his students first, and MacGyver considered the two years he had spent in his classroom to be some of the best times of his life. Professor Willis had fond memories of MacGyver as well, saying that MacGyver had one of the finest minds he had ever encountered but joking that he needed to have his brains rattled every now and then just to make sure they were still in tune. For himself, Willis often spent his off hours playing saxophone with a band in a local nightclub, a pastime he considered a mere indulgence just to regenerate the mind.

Professor Willis had been cooperating with the government on a project involving the US Army's Snake-Eye missile. Originally designed as a surface-to-air heat seeker, the missile had been given an upgraded guidance system that would make it programmable, accurate, and in high demand by Third World nations and black market arms dealers. When Professor Willis had discovered a glitch in the new guidance system, he began working with the Defense Department to fix the problem, and as was often his practice, he had some of his students work on the problem with him. Kate Lafferty, a young but brilliant student of his, in her eagerness to solve the problem, had broken into the Defense Department's computer and had been able to find a solution. Consequently, both the Department of Defense and Hatcher, an arms dealer who had orchestrated the theft of several of the Snake-Eye missiles with the intention of selling them to interested buyers, sought Professor Willis's help to correct the flaw in the guidance system.

Because of his past with the professor, MacGyver approached Willis to ask for the solution, a solution Willis was willing to share as long as there were no negative consequences for Kate's innocent enthusiasm. However, as Willis was leaving the nightclub, Larkin, one of Hatcher's men, attempted to abduct Willis and force his cooperation. MacGyver was a witness, and as Larkin fired his gun in MacGyver's direction and Willis struggled for the gun, Professor Willis was accidentally shot during the botched abduction and left behind by Larkin and his men. Willis knew the wound was fatal, telling MacGyver not to call for an ambulance and quoting from Romeo and Juliet, "'Tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door, but 'tis enough, t'will serve." Professor Willis died in the parking lot in MacGyver's arms as sirens approached, and MacGyver vowed to honor his memory by protecting his student, Kate Lafferty, from Hatcher's men.

Portrayed by: Richard McKenzie

Cross Reference: Hatcher, Kate Lafferty, Larkin, Snake-Eye Missile

Episode Reference: Ugly Duckling