FITZGERALD, WILLIAM H. G. Who served as Ambassador to Ireland under the first President Bush, died suddenly and peacefully January 5, 2006 at the age of 96. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1931, attended Harvard Law School, and served in the Navy during World War II, before embarking on a long and active career in investments and philanthropy. He variously served as a senior partner at Hornblower Weeks, Vice Chairman of Financial General Bankshares, and Chairman of North American Housing Corporation. His many charitable interests included service as Vice Chairman of the African Development Foundation, as a Trustee of the Corcoran Gallery, Chairman of the White House Preservation Fund, and Treasurer of the Atlantic Council. He is the senior member of the order of Malta in the United States. He supported the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the Washington Tennis Foundation, where he established a program to mentor inner city children, in addition to scholarships for disadvantaged children in the Washington Archdiocese. Together with his wife he established a program to send U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen to study at Oxford University. He has also been active in graduate affairs at the academy. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Annelise; his son Desmond FitzGerald of Greenwich, CT; his daughter Anne F. Slichter of Champaign, IL; and five grandchildren. The funeral is scheduled for 10:30 Monday, morning at St. Matthews Cathedral.
Published in The Washington Post on 1/6/2006.