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William John Richardson SJ (November 2, 1920 – December 10, 2016) was an American philosopher who was among the first to write a comprehensive study of the philosophy of Martin Heidegger, featuring an important preface by Heidegger himself.^[1]

Richardson was born on November 2, 1920, in Brooklyn, New York, to Frederick E. Richardson and Mary (Oliver) Richardson. He had a 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.^[2] He further studied at Woodstock College and the Catholic University of Louvain.^[3]

In addition to his specialization in Heidegger, Richardson was also, as a trained psychoanalyst, a specialist in the thought of Jacques Lacan. He was a Jesuit priest (he was ordained a priest on 15 August 1953). He taught philosophy at St. Peter's College, Fordham University, and, beginning in 1981, at Boston College, where he was, at the time of his death, emeritus professor of philosophy. He died in December 2016 in Weston, Massachusetts, at the age of 96.^[4]

• Heidegger: Through Phenomenology to Thought. Preface by Martin Heidegger. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1963; 4th Edition: Fordham University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8232-2255-1; ISBN 978-0-8232-2255-1.
• (With John P. Muller) Lacan and Language, Reader's Guide to Ecrits. New York: International Universities Press, 1982.
• Richardson, William J. (1994). "Lacan and the Enlightenment: Antigone's Choice". Research in Phenomenology. 24 (1): 25–41. doi:10.1163/156916494X00032.
• (With John P. Muller) The Purloined Poe, Lacan, Derrida & Psychoanalytic Reading. Baltimore, London: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1988.
• (With John P. Muller), Ouvrir les Écrits de Lacan, adapté par P. Julien. Toulouse: Eres, 1987.
• Heidegger : Through Phenomenology to Thought. Preface by Martin Heidegger. Fortieth Anniversary Edition, with New Writer's Preface and Epilogue. New York: Fordham University Press, 2003.

• List of American philosophers

• Babette Babich (ed.) From Phenomenology to Thought, Errancy, and Desire : Essays in Honor of William J. Richardson, S.J.. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 1995.
• Richard M. Capobianco. Engaging Heidegger. Foreword by William J. Richardson. University of Toronto Press, 2010, softcover 2011.

• Richardson's web page at Boston College
• "On Heidegger to Lacan" An Interview with William J. Richardson