Quick was born in Milwaukee July 31, 1885. He was educated in the Milwaukee Public Schools and studied law in night school. He worked as a construction superintendent and a machinist, before becoming a lawyer practicing in Milwaukee.
At the 1920 national convention of the Socialist Party, he was a delegate who supported the unsuccessful minority report, urging that the Socialist Party's affiliation with the Third International should be reaffirmed without reservations. Quick had never held public office before the November 1922 general election, in which he was elected to succeed fellow Socialist Louis A. Arnold in the 7th District with 5,823 votes, defeating Republican John S. Kanney, with 747 votes for Democrat Albert A. Ullenberg. He was assigned to the standing committees on the judiciary and on contingentexpenditures. In 1924 he was the Socialist candidate for Governor of Wisconsin, coming in third in a seven-way race with 5.68% of the vote, to Republican John J. Blaine's 51.76% and Democrat Martin L. Lueck's 39.87%. In the new Senate session, he was removed from the contingent expenditures committee, but remained on judiciary. He did not run for re-election in 1926, and was succeeded by Republican Herbert H. Smith.
After the Senate
Quick was appointed by his former foe, Governor Blaine, to serve as a civil court judge in 1926, when Judge Joseph Padway resigned; and served until 1927, when he was defeated by a "Nonpartisan" candidate. In 1930 Quick was the Socialist nominee for Congress of the United States from Wisconsin's 4th congressional district, coming in second to Republican John C. Schafer with 36.22% of the vote, to Schafer's 46.63% and Democrat William J. Kershaw's 15.46%. He was first assistant city attorney for the City of Milwaukee from 1932-1936. When city attorney Max Raskin was defeated, Quick went back into private practice with Raskin as a partner. He would later blame the "wrecked" state of his practice and his finances on the time that he had spent working for the city. In the September 1942primary elections, Quick and his son William F. Quick, Jr., each got five write-in votes for Socialist city central committeeman from the 27th Ward; and William, Sr., got one vote as Socialist Wisconsin State Assembly nominee from the 17th Assembly district. William, Jr., a Progressive Party committeeman, withdrew from the committeeman race in favor of his father, and William Sr. withdrew from the Assembly race in favor of former Alderman Leonard K. Place. He died in 1966.
