William Edwin Ryerson

{{short description|American diplomat (born 1936)}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| office = 6th United States Ambassador to Albania

| term_start = December 21, 1991

| term_end = October 13, 1994

| preceded = Hugh Gladney Grant

| succeeded = Joseph Edward Lake

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1936|12|10}}

| birth_place = Pompton Lakes, New Jersey

| education = Cornell University

}}

William Edwin Ryerson (born December 10, 1936) is an American former diplomat who was a career Foreign Service Officer. He served as the U.S. Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Albania from 1991 until 1994.{{cite web |title=William Edwin Ryerson |url=https://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/people/ryerson-william-edwin |website=Office of the Historian |accessdate=17 November 2019}}

Ryerson was born in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey on December 10, 1936.{{cite book |title=State, December 1991 |date=1991 |publisher=United States Department of State |pages=10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FRszw9RexSUC&dq=William+Edwin+Ryerson+1936&pg=RA10-PA10 |access-date=23 September 2022}} After a 52-year break, diplomatic relations between the United States and Albania were re-established on March 15, 1991. The U.S. Embassy in Tirana opened October 1, 1991. Christopher Hill as Chargé d'Affaires ad interim until Ryerson presented his credentials on December 21, 1991.{{cite web |title=U.S. Embassy Tirana |url=https://al.usembassy.gov/embassy/tirana/ |website=US Embassy Tirana |publisher=US Embassy Albania |accessdate=17 November 2019}}

The Cornell University graduate (he began as an engineering major before switching to history) was consul general in Yugoslavia in the late 1980s.{{cite news |last1=Rudstam |first1=Pelle |title=Alumnus recounts harrowing anecdotes from his foreign service career |url=http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/09/alum-recounts-lessons-learned-foreign-service-career |accessdate=3 February 2020 |publisher=Cornell Chronicle |date=September 9, 2009}} He is a member of the Seal and Serpent Society. {{Cite web |title=Alumnus recounts harrowing anecdotes from his foreign service career {{!}} Cornell Chronicle |url=https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2009/09/alum-recounts-lessons-learned-foreign-service-career |access-date=2025-06-04 |website=news.cornell.edu |language=en}}