William D. Fairchild, Jr. received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1951. During his first job at Juniata College in Huntington, PA, he prepared the indices for the 1955 and 1956 volumes of CJ. He was professor of romance and classical languages at Michigan State from 1964 to 1987, during which time he was a member at large of the Executive Committee and Michigan Vice President. He died in Fremont, CA, on January 28, 2004 at the age of 81.