JOSEPH WILLIAMSON, the dean of religious life and dean of the Chapel from
1989 to 2001, died of heart failure June 7 in Maryland, after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. He was 75. Williamson was viewed as an advocate for an open church, civil rights, and the poor. He did not shy away from controversial issues, and his decision in 1997 to permit a same-sex wedding in Princeton’s Chapel angered many alumni while pleasing others. The Rev. Deborah Blanks, associate dean of religious life, said Williamson’s “prophetic witness ... transformed the landscape of humanity.”