William John Richardson, SJ, was born on November 2, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, to Frederick E. Richardson and Mary (Oliver) Richardson. He had one sister, Margaret Powers. In 1941, Richardson graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and entered the Jesuit order on August 14, 1941, in Poughkeepsie, New York. He further studied at Woodstock College and the Catholic University of Louvain. He was ordained to the priesthood on August 15, 1953 in Louvain, Belgium. He taught philosophy at St. Peter's College, Fordham University, and, beginning in 1981, at Boston College. Richardson's research focused on the German philosopher Martin Heidegger and he was among the first to write a comprehensive study of Heidegger's philosophy: Heidegger: Through Phenomenology to Thought (1963), with a preface by Heidegger himself. Richardson also studied the work of psychoanalyst and psychiatrist Jacques Lacan, and co-authored Lacan and Language: A reader's guide to the Ecrits (1982). He became a certified psychoanalyst in the 1970s, and served as director of research at the Austen Riggs Institute for Psychotherapy. Richardson retired in 2007, becoming a professor emeritus, and died on December 10, 2016 in Weston, Massachusetts.

Sources:

"Richardson, William J. (Father)," Jesuits Midwest. December 10, 2016. https://www.jesuitsmidwest.org/memoriam/richardson-william-j-father.

Smith, Sean. "In Memoriam," BC News. December 13, 2016. https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/bcnews/humanities/philosophyandethics/in-memoriam--william-richardson--s-j-.html.