Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson, who had a long history of diplomatic and state service, passed away on Friday at the age of 75.
He died in his sleep at his home in Chatham, Mass., the Richardson Center for Global Engagement confirmed. He founded the institution in 2011 with the purpose of negotiating the release of prisoners and hostages who were being held by hostile countries or organizations. The center said it had worked with over 80 families for that purpose. Richardson helped rescue individuals being held in North Korea, Iraq, Cuba, and Sudan, sometimes by bargaining with tyrannical leaders, such as Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Some of his successes included the 2021 release of American journalist Danny Fenster from a Myanmar prison and this year’s release of Taylor Dudley, a Michigan native who was detained by Russian authorities after crossing into Kaliningrad from Poland. Richardson was also involved in the effort to liberate WNBA star Brittney Griner, who was released in a prisoner swap after she was convicted by a Russian court of trying to smuggle narcotics into the country.
“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,” Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center, said in the statement. “There was no person that Governor 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.”
In his long career in public service, Richardson served as a U.S. congressman, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the secretary of Energy under former president Bill Clinton, and the governor of New Mexico.