WILLIAM RANDALL SALISBURY

1940 - 2015

SALISBURY, WILLIAM R. William Randall Salisbury, 75, of Woodbridge, died peacefully at his home on Saturday, November 14, 2015. Born on April 24, 1940, in Orange, New Jersey, Bill earned a B.A. in 1962 from St. John’s College in Annapolis, Maryland. He was selected as a Root Tilden Scholar at New York University School of Law, earning an LLB degree in 1965 and an LLM in International Law the following year, while also working at a New York City law firm. Bill joined the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 1967, where he specialized in Political Affairs. He also worked with the Office of the Legal Adviser at the State Department, and with the Office of Legal Counsel to the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency. He was at one time Chairman of the Secretary of State’s Open Forum Panel (an in-house dissent group reporting directly to the Secretary of State), and Chair of the American Foreign Service Association’s Legal Committee. Following his retirement from the Foreign Service, Bill worked as a professional actor in Washington-area theaters and in TV and film. He moved to Woodbridge in 2003, where he lived with his partner, Ruth Sachs. He regularly attended classes at Yale University in philosophy and classical history. Bill leaves his ex-wife Diane of Washington, D.C., and two children: a son, Randall, of Washington, and a daughter, Avery, who lives in Manhattan. Bill also leaves two sisters, Jean Gill, of Oakdale, New York, and Sue Lauderbaugh, of Jacksonville, Alabama, and a brother, Jim, of Los Angeles, California. In addition, he will be deeply missed by Ruth’s children and grandchildren: Lori Sachs and her son Andrew, Jennifer Sachs and her children Noah and Carly, and Alison Cohen and her children Casey and Jed. A private memorial service will be held this weekend. Donations may be made in Bill’s memory to Doctors Without Borders.