NEW HANOVER COUNTY, N.C. (WBTW) — The husband of “One Tree Hill” actress Bevin Prince was killed Sunday in a lightning strike off the North Carolina coast, according to officials.
William Friend, 33, was killed in the lightning strike, Lt. Jerry Brewer with the New Hanover County Sheriff’s Office tells Nexstar’s WBTW.
Deputies responded Sunday afternoon and found Friend on his boat. He was transferred to a sheriff’s office boat where he was given CPR and taken to an ambulance at Bradley Creek Marina, officials said.
Bisnow, where Friend was CEO, released a statement Wednesday about his death.
“What made Will special was his innate ability to inspire and motivate people — to raise people higher than they thought possible,” Gregg Mayer, Bisnow Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, said in the statement. “That is the culture he fostered at Bisnow and, ultimately, that will be his lasting legacy.”
Friend was hired at Bisnow in 2010 and became CEO in 2015 at the age of 27, according to the company.
Friend and Prince, who married in 2016, moved to Wrightsville Beach when the pandemic hit to be closer to family, where the two created a fitness business, the company said.
Prince is well known for her role as Bevin Mirskey on the television series “One Tree Hill” that aired in the early 2000s.