Bill Richardson, former governor, UN ambassador who worked to free detained Americans, dies at 75

WASHINGTON — Bill Richardson, an American United Nations ambassador and former governor of New Mexico, has died at 75 years old.

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The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, which was founded and led by Richardson, released a statement Saturday, obtained by The Associated Press, that said he died in his sleep at his house in Chatham, Massachusetts.

“He lived his entire life in the service of others — including both his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad,” said the center’s Vice President Mickey Bergman, according to the AP. “There was no person that Gov. Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom. The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend.”

Richardson began serving in the U.S. House in 1983 where he represented New Mexico’s Third District, according to CNN.

Richardson was a United Nations ambassador. He was also a secretary of energy under President Bill Clinton, according to The New York Times.

Richardson ran a short-lived campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008 and then eventually endorsed Barack Obama. According to the Times, once Obama was elected, he nominated Richardson as secretary of commerce, which he withdrew from due to a pending investigation that was later dropped.

Richardson served as governor of New Mexico for two terms starting in 2002 and left office in 2011, CNN reported.

After his second term was over, he practiced “quasi-public diplomacy,” according to the Times. He visited North Korea multiple times to secure the release of Americans who were being detained in the country. He also conducted other humanitarian missions. Richardson won the release of American journalist Danny Fenster who was in prison in Myanmar in 2021.

Richardson was born in 1947 in Pasadena, California, CNN reported. He grew up in Mexico City, Mexico and then attended boarding school in Massachusetts in 1960. He attended Tufts University in 1970 and got a bachelor’s degree in political science and French. In 1971, he got a master’s degree from Tuft’s through the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

Richardson was married to Barbara Richardson in 1972 and they had one daughter, CNN reported.