William P. Ford (April 28, 1936 – June 1, 2008) was an American lawyer and bond trader. His sister,

Ita Ford Sister Ita Ford, M.M. (April 23, 1940 – December 2, 1980) was an American Catholic Maryknoll Sister who served as a missionary in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war refugees. On December 2, 1980, she was beaten, ra ...

, a Roman Catholic nun, was one of four nuns, murdered in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. After this, Ford became an advocate for justice for the murder of the nuns and for the people of El Salvador.

Early life

Born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, he graduated from

Brooklyn Prep Brooklyn Preparatory School, commonly referred to as Brooklyn Prep, was a highly selective Jesuit preparatory school founded by the Society of Jesus in 1908. The school educated generations of young men from throughout New York City and Long Isla ...

Legal career

He graduated from Fordham College in 1960, and later received his law degree from St. John's University. He worked for the law firm of

Mudge Rose Mudge Rose Guthrie Alexander & Ferdon was a prominent New York City law firm tracing its origin back to 1869. The firm was later known as Nixon, Mudge, Rose, Guthrie, & Alexander; and was later renamed Mudge, Rose, Guthrie & Alexander. The firm i ...

, and later formed his own firm, Ford Marrin Esposito Witmeyer & Gleser, LLP (www.fmew.com). He was closely involved with the organization,

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City and Washington, D.C. In 2004, Human Rights First started its " ...

. He received an honorary doctoral degree from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

in 1990. As part of a campaign for justice for his sister, he obtained a 54.6 million dollar liability ruling against

José Guillermo García José Guillermo García (born 25 June 1933) is a former general of the military of El Salvador and was minister of defense of the Revolutionary Government Junta of El Salvador between the years 1979 and 1983. Emigration to United States He e ...

and

Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova (born 1937) is the former head of the Salvadoran national guard between the years 1979 and 1983 and later served as the nation's Minister of Defense between 1983 and 1989. In 1984, four national guardsmen who had o ...

, who were retired Salvadoran generals living in the United States.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, William P. 1936 births 2008 deaths Fordham University alumni 20th-century American businesspeople American civil rights lawyers Brooklyn Preparatory School alumni People from Brooklyn Activists from New York (state)