ORANGE COUNTY IN BANKRUPTCY : One Challenge That Couldn’t Be Overcome : Profile: Resignation is a frustrating departure for Popejoy, who built a reputation for not buckling under pressure.

It was his determination to meet problems “head-on” and his business background that landed William J. Popejoy the job as Orange County’s first CEO. And it’s those same qualities that influenced Popejoy’s surprise resignation Wednesday.

While there have been many frustrations for the former businessman, Popejoy said he felt he had no choice but to leave after the Orange County Board of Supervisors sought to rein in his power and reinsert themselves in day-to-day county operations.

“I don’t like to leave something in the middle. I’d like to be here when it’s fixed, but they took away my tool chest,” Popejoy said Wednesday. “The supervisors have taken back the CEO job for themselves. . . . What was left was not a role for me.”

Popejoy, 57, is a retired millionaire businessman who spent his time on the tennis courts or occasionally on the links. But when he read about Orange County’s financial woes, he decided to give up a life of leisure for the job as chief executive officer for the beleaguered county.

He beat candidates such as corporate turnaround specialists Sanford C. Sigoloff and B.J. Rone, a corporate rescuer from Dallas. And supervisors insist he was hired because of his background and experience--not because he refused a salary while other candidates were demanding big money.

Popejoy once worked as a stock clerk and as a shop steward for a machinists union, but it wasn’t until he tried his hand at real estate and finance in the late 1960s that he found his niche.

In 1971, he became the first president of Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., working to spur the home finance market by providing lenders with more money to make loans.

His biggest challenge, however, came in the 1984, when he was called in to run the failed American Savings & Loan, the nation’s largest and most troubled S&L.; Huge financial losses and intense scrutiny marked the jobs, but for four years Popejoy refused to buckle under the pressure.

He did, however, gain a reputation as a sometimes “hot head,” but Popejoy maintains with a smile that he works hard to control his temper and never stays mad for long.

Popejoy graduated from Cal State Sacramento with a bachelor’s and master’s degree and received an advanced degree from Northwestern University’s School of Banking. Popejoy’s career working for a variety of financial institutions trained him to act and think like a corporate executive--which sometimes left him at odds with the Board of Supervisors but helped him grapple with bankruptcy woes.

Popejoy’s manner is affable and forthright. He talks with ease and without notes. The Newport Beach millionaire rarely hesitates to say what is on his mind.

He made sweeping changes after coming to the county: He slashed the county discretionary spending budget by 41% and cut the work force by 12% and embarked on a plan to reinvent government.

But some supervisors, used to handling business in a consensus-building fashion and aware of their accountability to the voters--often felt like their power was being usurped by the tall, silver-haired retired businessman.

Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar) said Popejoy’s refusing to dodge conflict got him in trouble--and made him the only Orange County figure with credibility.

“The supervisors forced him to resign because he wouldn’t be a puppet for them. . . . What they didn’t like about Popejoy was they couldn’t keep him quiet. They couldn’t silence him.”

Popejoy shunned such sentiments.

“I’m no hero. I’m just someone who has the time and wants to do something for the county,” he would frequently say.

Popejoy was seen as a local hero in some parts of the county, especially after refusing to take a salary and bring with him cabinet of loyal financial experts who also volunteered their services--and are now likely to follow their leader out the door.

At one point, Popejoy wrote out a personal $40,000 check to keep a bankruptcy recovery plan on track. “No, I don’t expect to be paid back any time soon,” he would later chuckle.

Often accessible, Popejoy would remain outside after board meetings milling with the public, listening to often-crazy ideas about how to get the county out of bankruptcy long after board members departed through back doors.

After months of working night, day and weekends, he has no doubts about what he will do when his tour of duty ends July 31.

“My next career is going to be my old career--back on the tennis courts of the Balboa Bay Club.”