William Beling, a retired professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, died of congestive heart failure July 1, 2009. He was 90.

Beling graduated from UCLA and then earned a Ph.D. in oriental languages from Princeton in 1947. He did postdoctoral work in the Middle East and at the University of Basel. He was an epigraphist on an expedition into the Sinai and through Africa that was covered in a 1948 issue of National Geographic magazine. From 1949 to 1958, he was an executive with the Arabian-American Oil Co. in Saudi Arabia.

Beling was on the faculty at Harvard from 1958 to 1960 and then was a professor of international relations at USC from 1960 to 1985. In 1976, he was appointed to the King Faisel chair. Fluent in Arabic (as well as French and German), Beling was the author or editor of eight books on the Middle East. After retiring in 1985, he began a new career as chair of a philanthropic foundation.

Beling is survived by Betty, his wife of 62 years; two daughters; and two grandsons.

Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.

Graduate Class of 1947