The son of Alonso Foster and Emma Louisa (Keeney) Bixby, William Keeney Bixby was born in Adrian, Michigan. He graduated from Adrian High School and received an LL.D. degree from the University of Missouri in 1907, then completed an M.A. at Amherst College in 1913. He married Lillian Tuttle on 13 June 1881; they had seven children: Sidney Tuttle, Mrs. Emma Stewart Jordan, William Hoxie, Harold McMillan, Mrs. Ruth Stevens, Ralph Foster, and Donald Church. Bixby became the first president of the American Car & Foundry Co., and later was chairman of the board. He also worked as president of the Laclede Gas Co., one of the receivers of the Wabash Railroad (1909-14), as director of the St. Louis Union Trust Co., and the First National Bank of St. Louis. He was Honorary president of the Provident Association and the Archeaological Society (both of St. Louis). For a time he served as president of the City Art Museum and of Washington University, and directed St. Luke's Hospital in St. Louis. In Washington, D.C., he was a Charter Member of the Incorporation of the American Red Cross, was affiliated with the American Federation of Art, served as a trustee for the Y.W.C.A. Endowment Fund, Girls' Industrial Home. He also directed the National Gallery of Art (now the National Museum of American Art) in Washington, D.C.