William Lowe Waller

WILLIAM L. WALLER was born in Burgess, Mississippi, on October 21, 1926. He received a B.S. from Memphis State University and a LL.B. from University of Mississippi. Waller served with the U.S. Army during the Korean War in the Counterintelligence Corps in 1951. He was the District Attorney for Hinds County from 1959-67. He was elected Governor of Mississippi in 1971 and served one four-year term. Governor Waller's administration aggressively involved blacks and women in government through key Cabinet, Board and judicial appointments. During his term, work began on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Governor Waller was a member of the National Governors' Conference Executive Committee (1974-75), and he served on the board of directors for the National District Attorneys' Association. As a prosecutor in 1964, Waller twice tried to convict the segregationist Byron De La Beckwith of murdering the civil rights leader Medgar Evers. Mr. Waller ran unsuccessfully for the United States Senate in 1978 and for governor in 1987. He is survived by his wife of 61 years, the former Carroll Overton; his sons, Robert, Edward, Donald and William Jr., who is chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court; and 14 grandchildren.