William Chambliss
American criminologist, sociologist (1933–2014)
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Early life and education
William Chambliss was born in 1933 in Buffalo, New York. He received his B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1955 and his Ph.D. from the Indiana University in 1962, both in sociology. As a young man, he also served in the Counterintelligence Corps during the Korean War.
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Career
Chambliss' first academic position was at the University of Washington, where he joined the faculty just after receiving his Ph.D. In 1967, he followed Donald Cressey, one of his early mentors, to the University of California, Santa Barbara. He later taught at the University of Delaware for a decade before joining George Washington University in 1986.
Personal life and death
Chambliss was married to Pernille Chambliss with whom he had three children: Jeffrey, Lauren, and James. Pernille said William had "the nicest heart." He died of cancer on February 22, 2014.
Honors and awards
Chambliss received two Lifetime Achievement Awards from the American Sociological Association: one from its Criminology section and the other from its Sociology of Law section. He also served as the president of the American Criminological Society and the Society for the Study of Social Problems. In 2012, the Society for the Study of Social Problems created the William J. Chambliss Lifetime Achievement Award to "recognize career-spanning excellence and achievement in the area of law and society."