F Reid Buckley

Novelist, columnist, founder of a school of public speaking and, in family lore, the most literary of Aloise and William F. Buckley Sr.’s 10 children, including former Senator James L. Buckley and the conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. Fergus Reid Buckley was born in Paris on July 14, 1930, the eighth of the 10 children. He was educated in Europe and in Mexico, where his father, an oil executive, had oil interests. He attended Yale, where, like his brother William, he was a member of Skull and Bones and the debate squad. He graduated in 1952 and served in the Air Force for two years before beginning his writing career in Europe. Partly to set himself apart from his siblings, Reid Buckley lived overseas for much of his early life. He wrote articles and columns for National Review and other conservative publications. His first marriage, to Elizabeth Huntting Howell, ended in divorce. Besides his son William Huntting Buckley, he is survived by his second wife, Rosaria Leguina, known as Tasa; three other children from his first marriage, Claude, F. Reid Jr. and Elizabeth Buckley Riley; four stepchildren, Francisco, Patricia, Santiago and Francisco, all of whose family name is de Olano; his brother James; a sister, Carol V. Buckley; and 22 grandchildren. Another stepchild died before him.