William C. Widenor ’59

Bill died Jan. 13, 2016, at his home in Champaign, Ill.

At Princeton, Bill joined Prospect Club, where he spent as much time at the bridge table as he did at the dining table. However, the diversion did not prevent him from graduating with honors in history. He went on to Harvard Law School but succumbed to the lure of adventure with the State Department and withdrew after a year to enter the Foreign Service. He served as a consular officer in Munich and Zurich, where he met Mary Helen Barrett. They married in 1964, and divorced in 1973.

Bill left the Foreign Service in 1968. He moved to California to pursue a Ph.D. in history at the University of California, Berkeley, earning a doctorate in 1975. He joined the faculty of the University of Illinois, where he was to become not only a popular professor, but chair of the history department. He is best remembered academically for his history of Henry Cabot Lodge, which was awarded the Frederick Jackson Turner Award by the Organization of American Historians and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

Bill was predeceased by his son, Geoffrey. The class extends its sympathy to his daughter, Victoria, who fondly remembers trading books, discussing foreign policy, and spending time at the lake with her father.