William Ruckelshaus was born on 24 July 1932 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was married to Jill Ruckelshaus and Ellen Urban. He died on 27 November 2019 in Medina, Washington, USA.
He received a law degree from Harvard in 1960, then joined his family's Indianapolis law firm. He was appointed state deputy attorney general and was counsel with the Indiana Board of Health, where he took legal action against companies polluting rivers and lakes.
