Wilson, first U.S. envoy to Vatican, dies

CARMEL, Calif., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- William A. Wilson, appointed in 1984 as the first full-fledged U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, died at his home in Carmel, Calif., at 95, his daughter said.

His term as U.S. envoy was tainted by unauthorized dealings with Libya, The New York Times reported.

The newspaper said he was a businessman and rancher in California when he was introduced to Ronald Reagan, who at the time was still an actor and pitchman. The two became close friends and Wilson was among a dozen conservative businessmen in Southern California who helped underwrite Reagan's political career, including Reagan's successful run for governor of California in 1966, the Times said.

Wilson was appointed to the University of California Board of Regents in 1972 and was active in Reagan's presidential campaign in 1976, the newspaper said.

Reagan was elected president in 1980 and Wilson became part of his "kitchen cabinet." A convert to Catholicism, Wilson was appointed in 1981 as Reagan's personal envoy to the Holy See and elevated to full ambassador in 1984, the Times said.

In 1985 Wilson traveled on a secret trip to Libya and met with leaders there, despite a congressional ban, the Times reported, and despite previous warnings to Wilson not to make contact.

Wilson said he had authorization for the trip, but resigned two months after reports of the trip became public.

Wilson's daughter, Marcia Wilson Hobbs, told the Times her father felt top State Department officials opposed to full-scale diplomatic relations with the Vatican and used the Libyan trip to demand his removal.

Wilson was born Nov. 2, 1914, in Los Angeles, the Times said. After getting a degree in mechanical engineering from Stanford, he joined his father's oil-well equipment manufacturing business. The Times said when the company was sold in 1960, he became involved in Southern California real estate and cattle ranching in the United States and Mexico.

Mrs. Elizabeth Johnson Wilson died in 1996.

In addition to Hobbs of Los Angeles, Wilson is survived by another daughter, Anne Marie Wilson of Sonora, Mexico; six grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren.