William Doyle Ruckelshaus, who famously quit his job in the US Justice Department rather than carry out president Richard Nixon's order to fire the special prosecutor investigating the Watergate scandal, has died aged 87.
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Ruckelshaus served as the first administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency, which confirmed his death in a statement Wednesday.
The lifelong Republican also served as acting director of the FBI. But his moment of fame came in 1973, when he was a deputy-attorney general and joined his boss, attorney-general Elliot Richardson, in resigning rather than carrying out Nixon's unlawful order to fire Watergate special prosecutor Archibald Cox.
After Richardson and Ruckelshaus resigned, solicitor-general Robert Bork carried out the firing in what became known as the "Saturday Night Massacre", prompting protests and outrage around the country.
"He was incorruptible," longtime friend and Seattle philanthropist Martha Kongsgaard said Wednesday of Ruckelshaus.
"It was very disappointing for him to see this happening again in our country and maybe on a larger scale. Deep decency in the face of corruption is needed now more than ever."
Ruckelshaus' civic service and business career spanned decades and US coasts, marked by two stints at the EPA under Nixon and Ronald Reagan, a lost bid for US Senate in 1968 and top positions at Weyerhaeuser Co and Browning Ferris Industries.
In his later years, he was a high-profile champion of cleaning up Puget Sound in Washington state, where he lived.
Ruckelshaus was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, by President Barack Obama in 2015.
Obama said Ruckelshaus "spent his life putting country before party or politics. He reminds us how noble public service can be. And our air and water is cleaner and our lives are brighter because of him."
Australian Associated Press
