Williams Francis Burns *69

Bill died June 5, 2021, in Carlisle, Pa., at the age of 88. 

Born in Scranton, Pa., in 1932, Bill graduated from La Salle College in 1954. He earned an MPA degree from Princeton in 1969 after completing a combat tour during the Vietnam War. 

Bill served with distinction in the Army for 35 years. He was a field artillery officer, a brigade commander, a professor and deputy commandant of the U.S. Army War College, and a nuclear arms reduction negotiator as the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff representative to the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces negotiations. 

After retiring from the military, Bill served as director of the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency under President Ronald Reagan. As ambassador for the implementation of the Nunn-Lugar program under President George H.W. Bush, Bill helped ensure the security and safe destruction of nuclear weapons in the former Soviet Union. Later he served as a judge on Pennsylvania’s Court of Judicial Discipline. 

He continued to teach at the Army War College and remained involved in the promotion of arms control. 

Bill is survived by his wife, Peggy; sons Bill, Jack, Bob, and Mark; and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. 

Graduate alumni memorials are prepared by the APGA.