In Memory: William Coligny Doub II (1935 – 2017)

Bill “Terry” Doub died peacefully August 3, 2017 in San Francisco with family and friends by his side. He was born July 9, 1935 in Oakland, CA and grew up in Piedmont, CA. Bill loved rock climbing, mountaineering, and skiing. He began these activities at age 12 and continued doing them in the United States and Canada for most of his life.

Bill attended Pomona College where he met his future wife Nancy Platt Carlson of Queens, NY. After completing college, he was drafted into the Army and served in Germany where he and Nancy were married in 1959. After completing his military service, Bill studied Chinese philosophy with a focus on Taoism. He received an MA degree from Stanford in 1962 and a Ph.d. from the University of Washington in 1971. His daughter Marian was born at Stanford. Bill’s investigations of Chinese philosophy frequently took him to Asia, and his second child, Eric, was born in Taiwan.

From 1970 to 1980 Bill Doub was a faculty member in the East Asian Studies Dept. at the University of Colorado in Boulder. From 1985 to 1997 Bill and his wife Nancy edited and published the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, a critical quarterly journal of Asian affairs started during the Vietnam War.

Throughout his adult life Bill was an ardent environmentalist and a dedicated opponent of militarism. During the 1980s and 1990s he helped start and then worked at Boulder Eco-Cycle, one of the nation’s first curbside recycling programs. Bill rode bicycles everywhere and used cars, which he often called “pollution waste machines”, very sparingly.

Bill participated in numerous protests and nonviolent actions against war and militarism. In 1978 Bill, Nancy, and their daughter Marian were arrested (along with 300 others including Daniel Ellsberg) for campaigning against the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant. Bill’s last two civil disobedience arrests were in 2013 at Beale Air Force Base, against drone warfare, and in February 2015 with three generations of family (grandson Aidan and Marian and her husband Bob) against fracking.

Bill and Nancy Doub were warm, welcoming, and extremely generous human beings. They consistently gave love, care, and encouragement to all close family members. Bill and Nancy helped raise their three grandchildren, for which both parents and grandchildren are deeply grateful.

Bill is survived by his daughter Marian Doub and son-in-law Bob Thawley; son Eric Doub and daughter-in-law Catherine Childs; grandchildren Aidan Thawley, and Ariel and Brian Doub; his partner (2009 – present) Carolyn Mumm of Camptonville, CA; his sister-in-law Mary Bolton Doub; and many other close family members and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife Nancy Carlson Doub in 2009 and his younger brother Phillip Moore Doub in 2015.

Donations may be made in Bill’s honor to either or both

· The Rocky Mountain Peace & Justice Center, by clicking here

· The Nuclear Resister, by clicking here (via PayPal)

Celebrations of Bill Doub’s life will be held in San Francisco on September 3rd and in Boulder on September 16th. For event details as well as Bill’s autobiography and a short tribute film see WilliamCDoub.WordPress.com