William Walter Beyer

William Walter Beyer

William Beyer of Midlothian, Va., passed away on January 20, 2026, at age 88. Born on January 25, 1937, William was raised in New Jersey and attended schools in Maplewood. He entered Rutgers University in 1955 and majored in history. In his senior year, William participated in an honors program as a Henry Rutgers Scholar and won the Joseph B. Bradley Prize in Roman Law. He also received a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship from the Ford Foundation for further graduate study. For his graduate studies, William selected the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where he concentrated his studies on diplomatic history and received his M.A. Degree in 1961. The following year, while studying for his Ph.D., William received a nomination to enter the U.S. Foreign Service and moved to Washington, D.C. for training at the Foreign Service Institute. His first posting as Vice Consul was to the Consulate in Auckland, New Zealand, and then to the Embassy in Wellington, where consular duties included the issuance of visitor and immigrant visas, U.S. passports, and commercial promotions. This assignment was followed up by transfer to the U.S. Consulate General in Munich, Germany, from 1964 to 1966, where his consular duties included economic and commercial trade reporting. Returning to the U.S. Department of State in 1966, William was assigned to International Organizations, where he arranged the U.S. delegations to attend international conferences. William joined the Dupont Company in Wilmington, DE, in 1967 and worked in the Treasurer's Division and three years later, he joined the International Division of First Pennsylvania Bank in Philadelphia, where his responsibilities included calling on foreign correspondent banks in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In 1975, the bank sent William to head its Representative Office in S�o Paulo, Brazil, for 3.5 years. In 1980, he was promoted to head the Representative Office in Frankfurt, Germany. Following the closure of all the foreign offices, William joined the United Virginia Bank (now Truist) in Richmond, VA, where his duties continued to be foreign correspondent banks and loans to banks and foreign nations until his retirement in 1999. William's interests throughout his life included history, archaeology, and art. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. He is survived by his beloved wife, Lilli Subley Beyer; his former wife, Jennifer Woodhouse; the mother of his daughter, Katharine Woodhouse-Beyer; Katharine's husband, Peter Fox; and grandson, John Fox; half-sister, Elizabeth Deus, and her husband, Manuel; half-brother, Douglas Stevens; and nephews and nieces.

A funeral service will be held on January 29 at 9 a.m. at Bliley's - Central, 3801 Augusta Ave. Burial will follow at Westhampton Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions would be appreciated for the Sanctuary Garden at the Cathedral, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, or a charity of your choice.