Former New Mexico Governor Dead at 75, Was Recently Nominated for Nobel Prize
Former New Mexico governor and United Nations ambassador Bill Richardson passed away Saturday at the age of 75.
Richardson had recently been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for his involvement in bringing basketball player Brittney Griner back to the U.S. after she was detained in Russia.
Mickey Bergman, vice president of the Richardson Center, said in a statement that Richardson “passed away peacefully in his sleep,” NBC News reported.
“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,” Bergman said.
Richardson was born in Pasadena, California, and later grew up in Mexico City before moving to New Mexico, according to The Associated Press.
He worked as a Capitol Hill staffer before running for a congressional seat in 1980, which he lost. Richardson ran again in 1982 and won, holding office from 1983 to 1997.
Richardson served as secretary of energy and UN ambassador under President Bill Clinton. He was elected governor of New Mexico in 2002 and then ran for president in 2008, but later dropped out.
President Barack Obama nominated Richardson as commerce secretary, but he declined after a federal investigation was opened into his time as governor over “pay to play” allegations.
Richardson also came under scrutiny during his time as energy secretary after computer equipment and nuclear information went missing from Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Richardson’s expertise from his time at the UN made him an unofficial diplomat.
He aided in the release of hostages and American service members from countries such as North Korea, Iraq, Cuba, Sudan and, most recently, Russia when he worked to free Griner in exchange for notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
Richardson also founded and presided over the Richardson Center, a nonprofit that works for global peace using informal diplomatic channels, according to the group’s website.
“There was no person that Governor Richardson would not speak with if it held the promise of returning a person to freedom,” Bergman said. “The world has lost a champion for those held unjustly abroad and I have lost a mentor and a dear friend.”
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