was born in Southampton, England. He received his education at Eastbourne College, with the Gordon Highlanders, and at Queens' College, Cambridge, where he edited the magazine Granta. In 1962 he came to Seattle to work with Theodore Roethke and started his teaching career at the University of Washington as an English instructor. By 1973 he had earned tenure as an Associate Professor of English, a position he held until his retirement in 2001. His poems appeared in Encounter, New Statesman, TLS, Poetry Northwest, Seattle Review, and other leading journals. In 1997 Rose Alley Press published his poetry collection, Caruso for the Children, & Other Poems. Moreover, for two decades he was the soccer correspondent and opera critic for the Seattle Weekly. William succumbed to cancer on October 20, 2005. He will be remembered as an excellent teacher and poet and as a critic who fearlessly defended high aesthetic standards. He is survived by his wife, Revelle, and three children: Miranda, Ben, and Kate. In 2007, Revelle, aided by some of her and William's friends, produced Collected Poems, a posthumous volume of William's verse.