William H. Webster, former FBI and CIA director, dies at 101
William H. Webster, a longtime U.S. public servant who served as the head of both the FBI and the CIA, has died. He was 101.
The FBI confirmed his death in a statement Friday.
Webster, who was the only person to have led both agencies, "was a dedicated public servant who spent over 60 years in service to our country, including in the U.S. Navy, as a federal judge, director of the CIA, and his term as our Director from 1978-1987," the FBI statement said.
A statement from Webster's family said, "We are proud of the extraordinary man we had our lives who spent a lifetime fighting to protect his country and its precious rule of law."
A memorial service for Webster will take place in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 18, the family said.
As FBI director, Webster served under Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
He then served as CIA director from 1987 to 1991 under Reagan and President George H.W. Bush.
"As the only individual to have led both the FBI and the CIA, Judge Webster’s unwavering integrity and dedication to public service set a standard for leadership in federal law enforcement," the FBI Agents Association said in a statement.
Webster was born on March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended Amherst College in Massachusetts and earned his law degree at Washington University Law School in St. Louis.
He served as a U.S. Navy lieutenant in both World War II and the Korean War. A practicing attorney in St. Louis from the late 1940s to the late 1950s, Webster went on to serve as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri.
In the 1970s, he was appointed as a U.S. District Court judge and then a U.S. Court of Appeals judge before taking the FBI director post.
He also served as chair of the Homeland Security Advisory Committee from 2005 to 2020.
He was predeceased by his first wife, Drusilla Laneis, and survived by his second wife, Lynda Clugston Webster, three children, 7 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren, his family said.
