Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has died at the age of 75

CNN
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Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a longtime fixture in Democratic politics who served as energy secretary and UN ambassador under the Clinton administration, died on Friday, the Richardson Center for Global Engagement said in a statement. He was 75 years old.

Richardson died in his sleep at his summer home in Massachusetts.

“He has lived his entire life serving others — including his time in government and his subsequent career helping to free people held hostage or unjustly held overseas. No one has ever been Governor Richardson does not speak to him if he holds a promise to return a person to freedom.”

The world has lost an advocate for those wrongfully detained abroad, a mentor and a dear friend.”

Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a joint statement, praised Richardson, calling him “a loyal public servant and a skilled diplomat.”

“Whether in an official or informal capacity, he was a shrewd and tenacious negotiator who helped make our world a safer place and succeeded in freeing many individuals unjustly detained abroad,” the couple said.

President Joe Biden similarly praised Richardson as a “true patriot and thoroughbred.”

“Over the years, I have seen firsthand his passion for politics, his love of America, and his unwavering belief that, with respect and goodwill, people can come together to overcome any difference, no matter how big,” Biden said in a statement.

Richardson began his political career in earnest as an aide to then-Massachusetts Representative Frank Bradford Morse before becoming a staffer for the US State Department and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1970s.

He was first elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1983, representing New Mexico’s 3rd District. Richardson later served as US ambassador to the United Nations and Secretary of Energy before being elected governor of New Mexico in 2002. He served two terms before leaving office in 2011.

After his failed bid for the presidency in 2008, Richardson launched the Richardson Center for Global Engagement, a nonprofit organization working to promote international peace, in 2011.

Richardson and his namesake center have worked privately on behalf of families of hostages and detainees overseas. He traveled to Moscow last year and held meetings with the Russian leadership to discuss the release of basketball star Brittney Griner and former US Marine Paul Whelan.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that Richardson has “dedicated his life to public service.”

“Whether inside or outside government, he was motivated by a strong belief in the power of diplomacy,” the top US diplomat said in a statement. “He showed the value of engagement and charted an inspiring path for future generations of public sector employees to follow.”

US Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens also expressed condolences on Saturday In a post on Xformerly known as Twitter.

“My heartfelt condolences go out to Governor Bill Richardson’s family and to Mickey Bergman and the team at the Richardson Center for Global Engagement,” Carstens said, posting a photo of them alongside his statement.

Carstens and Richardson worked together on hostage relief efforts, including those related to the detention of Griner and Whelan.

“On behalf of the countless families that Governor Richardson and his center have helped, I wanted to express our deep sense of loss over his death,” Nida Sharqi, chair of the Bring Our Families Home campaign, said in a statement Saturday. “Gov. Richardson has been a fierce advocate for human rights and efforts to repatriate people unjustly detained overseas.”

Matthew Heath, an American who was unjustly detained in Venezuela, noted that “although I have never met him… [Richardson]He worked tirelessly, selflessly and relentlessly for my liberation.

He advocated for my freedom and the freedom of other Americans. “His center has provided hundreds and hundreds of hours of support to my family during my detention,” Heath told CNN on Saturday. “Knowing that a force of nature like Governor Richardson was defending him at the highest levels of both governments was a beacon of hope for me while I was in captivity. Governor Richardson’s death is like a light going out of this world.

Richardson was born in 1947 in Pasadena, California. He grew up in Mexico City, Mexico, and left to attend boarding school in Massachusetts in 1960.

He received a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Tufts University in 1970 and a master’s degree from the Tufts Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy in 1971.

He married Barbara Richardson in 1972, and they have one daughter.

This story has been updated with additional information.