The Partnership lost a wonderful friend and committed advocate July 30 with the passing of Bill Nitze, a member of our Advisory Board from its creation. He was 78.
“Bill was a longtime and enthusiastic supporter of carbon pricing and a leader in trying to get Republicans back into the fold in the fight against climate change,” said PRG co-founder and board chairman George T. Frampton Jr. Nitze served in important environmental positions under Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. He was forced to leave the Bush administration by John Sununu, the president's chief of staff, for public comments that were perceived to overstate the administration's commitment to reducing domestic greenhouse gas emissions.
After leaving his job in the Bush administration, Nitze served for four years as president of the Alliance to Save Energy, where he promoted energy efficiency via changes to residential and commercial building codes, as well as tax incentives.
“He also had a strong entrepreneurial spirit,” recalled another PRG co-founder, CEO William C. Eacho. Nitze was chairman of Oceana Energy Company, which develops hydrokinetic technology to convert tidal energy into electricity, and Clear Path Technologies, Inc., which designs and builds neutron-based systems for detecting and identifying explosives and other dangerous substances in sealed containers. He also co-founded GridPoint, Inc., which develops and markets intelligent energy management systems for residential, commercial, and industrial applications.
“He was the definition of a Renaissance man,” said Frampton. “He seemed to be interested in almost everything, including philosophy, history, art, literature, drama, Japanese culture, and artificial intelligence, which he taught at George Mason University’s Krasnow Institute. I remember that Bill was a great student of Baruch Spinoza, the 17th-century Dutch philosopher, whom I briefly tried out and found virtually unreadable.”
Nitze was the son of Paul Henry Nitze, an architect of Cold War defense policy, an arms control negotiator, and a presidential advisor to administrations spanning those from Franklin D. Roosevelt to Reagan. After earning an AB and JD from Harvard, Nitze worked at the law firm Sullivan & Cromwell and then for the Mobil Oil Company. He later served on the board of directors of the Aspen Skiing Company and as a trustee of the Aspen Institute.
“Bill was one of a kind,” said PRG co-founder Walter Minnick, who had known him for half a century, since their days at Harvard Law School. “He was not only exceedingly smart, but equally persuasive and inquisitive. We were lucky to have his help in the effort to promote carbon pricing.”