SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES GREAT REGRET AT DEATH OF WILLIAM EPSTEIN, LEADING ADVOCATE FOR ‘NOBLE CAUSE’ OF GLOBAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

SECRETARY-GENERAL EXPRESSES GREAT REGRET AT DEATH OF WILLIAM EPSTEIN,

LEADING ADVOCATE FOR ‘NOBLE CAUSE’ OF GLOBAL NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT

Following is the statement of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, delivered on his behalf by Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Jayantha Dhanapala, at a memorial service for William Epstein in New York on

14 February:

I learned with great regret of the passing of Bill Epstein, a former staff member and a man who was well known to all seven Secretaries-General of the United Nations.   He was indisputably one of the world’s leading advocates of global nuclear disarmament, having devoted both his entire professional career and his long retirement to this noble cause.  He will perhaps best be remembered for his important contributions to the negotiation of the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean and for his long advocacy of a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, the subject of his celebrated book, The Last Chance.  Though his long-standing goal remains to be achieved, his efforts will surely inspire others to carry on his work. 

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