Bill was born Feb. 17, 1925, in Brooklyn, N.Y., and served in the Marines during World War II and in Korea. At Princeton he majored in the SPIA and then attended the Johns Hopkins Center for International Studies in Bologna, Italy.
He was a government professional in public affairs and media relations, both in the United States and internationally.
He had a 32-year career with the U.S. Information Agency (USIA), first as a public-affairs staffer in Jakarta, Indonesia; then as press liaison for two years at the U.S. Mission to the European Community; followed by work as a counselor for public affairs at the U.S. Mission to NATO; as a media-liaison officer at the U.S Embassy in London; and as deputy director in the Office of West European Affairs in Washington, D.C. Before joining USIA, he was on the staff at the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in Boise, Idaho. After retirement in 1984, he taught media relations (as an aspect of public diplomacy) at the U.S. War College and wrote a history of the U.S. Bicentennial Commission.
Bill died Dec. 8, 2017, in Hyattsville, Md., at age 92. The Hamilton family home was in Chevy Chase, Md. He was married for 63 years to the late Maxine Hamilton. He is survived by their four children, Jean Hamilton, Ellen O’Donnell, Allison Hamilton-Rohe, and Graham Hamilton; and four grandchildren.