Writings & Remarks

In Memoriam: William Luers '51, GP'14

May 12, 2025

Tags In Memoriam

Dear Hamilton Community,

William H. Luers ’51, GP’14, one this nation’s most distinguished foreign service officers and the former president of the Metropolitan Museum of art, died on Saturday at the age of 95. He was the recipient of a Hamilton honorary degree in 1984, served as the Sol. M. Linowitz Professor of International Affairs in 2010, and was a regular visitor to campus, especially later in his career and after retiring from the Met in 1999.

A 2015 article in the Hamilton Magazine, summarized Bill’s legendary career: “naval officer; 31 years in the Foreign Service and diplomacy, including ambassadorships to Venezuela and Czechoslovakia; president of the United Nations Association and The Metropolitan Museum of Art; professor; and these days, director of The Iran Project, an organization dedicated to improving the relationship between the U.S. and Iranian governments.”

The New York Times obituary published yesterday described the creative strategy he used, while serving as the new ambassador to Czechoslovakia, to protect the often imprisoned dissident and writer Václav Havel from the Communists who ruled the country at the time. Havel was subsequently elected the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic. “My greatest satisfaction was the success of Václav Havel,” Mr. Luers told the Times. “Havel proved my point that culture makes a difference, especially in international relations.” 

Later, in another diplomatic triumph as founder and director of the Iran Project, he facilitated back channel talks with Iran that ultimately led to a deal with the Obama Administration to curtail Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

A summary of Mr. Luers’ 2010 Linowitz lecture on campus said he used two “Cs” to describe different periods of his education and career “starting with his job at Coca-Cola [when he was teenager]. Luers then progressed to his double-major of chemistry and calculus, which led to the ‘curiosity and confidence’ that a Hamilton education had left him with. His career led him to ‘conflict and Cold War,’ and finally to his current challenge, ‘cooperation or calamity.’”

Bill Luers’ career represents a wonderful example of how our alumni have embraced creativity and innovation to evolve our democracy, and why I’m convinced that democracy depends on places like Hamilton not only to be successful, but to be true influencers.

Steven