William Ruckelshaus est né le 24 juillet 1932 dans l'Indiana, États-Unis. Il était marié à Jill Ruckelshaus et Ellen Urban. Il est mort le 27 novembre 2019 dans l'état de Washington, États-Unis.
He received a law degree from Harvard in 1960, then joined his family's Indianapolis law firm. He was appointed state deputy attorney general and was counsel with the Indiana Board of Health, where he took legal action against companies polluting rivers and lakes.
