Founding trustee, trustee emeritus and renowned Army lawyer dies at 85 - Command and General Staff College Foundation, Inc.

Col. William G. Eckhardt, U.S. Army, Retired, passed away Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026, at the age of 85. He was a founding trustee of the CGSC Foundation and served multiple terms on the board of trustees from 2009-2015, and again from 2018-2024. He was elected trustee emeritus Sept. 17, 2024, at the end of his fourth term as trustee.

Founding trustees of the CGSC Foundation gather at a reception in the Lewis and Clark Center on Aug. 12, 2007 and unveil a bronze plaque commemorating the CGSC Foundation’s incorporation. Col. (Ret.) Bill Eckhardt is seventh from right. The Foundation hosted the reception in honor of the College’s official dedication of the building on Aug. 14, 2007.

Foundation Trustee Col. (Ret.) Bill Eckhardt presents during the Foundation’s Vietnam War Commemoration Lecture Series on March 1, 2018, in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas.

“Bill’s leadership and dedication to the Foundation’s mission and the Army profession is commendable, as is his teaching career,” said Lora Morgan, president/CEO of the CGSC Foundation and Alumni Association. “He made a lasting impression on everyone fortunate enough to work with him, and he will be sorely missed.”

During his time with the Foundation as a trustee and trustee emeritus, Eckhardt personally sponsored and participated in several Foundation programs. He served as a keynote speaker in the Foundation’s ethics symposia, a speaker in the Foundation’s Vietnam lecture series, participated in “Plato’s Cave” events with CGSC students and faculty, and served on the Foundation’s programs committee. He was an active sponsor of the Distinguished Speaker Series, as well as an active member of the Arter-Rowland National Security Forum and the National Security Roundtable program. He also presented during the Foundation’s Cold War Symposium, and wrote one of the chapters in the subsequent book published by the Foundation, The End of the Cold War and Its Aftermath.

Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt stop for a photo during the CGSC Foundation's fourth annual “Celebration of International Friendship” Sept. 29, 2017 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City. — Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt pose for a photo during the reception at CGSC Foundation’s fourth annual “Celebration of International Friendship” Sept. 29, 2017 at the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Kansas City.

Eckhardt is likely most well-known in legal circles for his role as the chief prosecutor in the court-martial of Army Captain Ernest Medina as part of the My Lai massacre trials in 1970-1971. Eckhardt was a captain at the time. For his service during that trial he received the Federal Bar Association’s Federal Young Lawyer Award which was presented by Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist.

Simons Center Director Bob Ulin, left, with the panel of experts he assembled for the Cold War Symposium. From left, Ulin; Col. (Ret.) Jon House, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, CGSC Department of Military History; Robert Davis, Ph.D., Director, Goodpaster Scholars, School of Advanced Military Studies; Sean Kalic, Ph.D., Professor, CGSC Department of Military History; John Ferguson, owner of Ferguson Hotel Development, the symposium’s sponsor; Mark Wilcox, Ph.D., Associate Professor, CGSC Department of Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations; Gilbert Bernabe, Ph.D., former inspector for the On-Site Inspection Agency; William Eckhardt, JD, Emeritus Teaching Professor of Law, Director, Urban Affairs Outreach, University of Missouri-Kansas City; and Lester Grau, Senior Research Analyst, Foreign Military Studies Office. Not pictured in the group are Tim Riley, Director and Chief Curator, America’s National Churchill Museum, Fulton, Mo.; and Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Gordon “Skip” Davis, a former CGSC deputy commandant and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment. — Simons Center Director Bob Ulin, left, with the panel of experts he assembled for the Cold War Symposium during the symposium kickoff event Nov. 9, 2021, at June’s Northland in Leavenworth, Kansas. Col. (Ret.) William Eckhardt, JD, Emeritus Teaching Professor of Law, University of Missouri-Kansas City is second from right. From left, Ulin; Col. (Ret.) Jon House, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, CGSC Department of Military History; Robert Davis, Ph.D., Director, Goodpaster Scholars, School of Advanced Military Studies; Sean Kalic, Ph.D., Professor, CGSC Department of Military History; John Ferguson, owner of Ferguson Hotel Development, the symposium’s sponsor; Mark Wilcox, Ph.D., Associate Professor, CGSC Department of Joint, Interagency, and Multinational Operations; Gilbert Bernabe, Ph.D., former inspector for the On-Site Inspection Agency; Eckhardt ; and Lester Grau, Senior Research Analyst, Foreign Military Studies Office. Not pictured in the group are Tim Riley, Director and Chief Curator, America’s National Churchill Museum, Fulton, Mo.; and Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Gordon “Skip” Davis, a former CGSC deputy commandant and NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Defense Investment.

Ultimately, Eckhardt served 30 years in the Army, retiring as a colonel, with the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps where he provided legal services, litigated in federal and military courts and taught at the University of California at Berkeley, taught at the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and taught and held the Dwight David Eisenhower Chair of National Security at the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt mingle with other guests during the CGSC Foundation's holiday reception Dec. 16, 2021, at the Carriage Club in downtown Kansas City. — Col. (Ret.) Bill and Marge Eckhardt mingle with other guests during the CGSC Foundation’s holiday reception Dec. 16, 2021, at the Carriage Club in downtown Kansas City.

Upon his Army retirement Eckhardt began teaching law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law in 1993. He taught 252 classes and clinics touching more than 4,800 students in a multitude of subjects such as administrative law, criminal law and evidence, among others. During his tenure at UMKC, he also served as an adjunct professor at the University of Kansas School of Law. He received several awards from UMKC including Outstanding Professor of the Year in 2003, 2006, and 2010, and the Elmer F. Pierson Outstanding Teaching Award in 2007. He was awarded the title “Teaching Professor Emeritus” of UMKC upon his retirement in 2016.

Born in Ames, Iowa on January 7, 1941, to Dr. Robert C. Eckhardt and Ruth F. Eckhardt, Eckhardt moved to Tennessee and ultimately Starkville, Mississippi when his parents finished their graduate studies. He grew up in Starkville. Later in life, he became a great storyteller and regaled his family and anyone else who would listen with tales of life in the 40s and 50s in America’s deep south. In high school he was proud of being at Mississippi Boy’s State and being the band’s drum major.

CGSC Foundation Chair Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Chris Hughes, right, presents Col. (Ret.) Bill Eckhardt with an award signifying his designation as "Trustee Emeritus." — Former CGSC Foundation Chair Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Chris Hughes, right, presents Col. (Ret.) Bill Eckhardt with an award signifying his designation as “Trustee Emeritus” during the Foundation’s board of trustees meeting Sept. 17, 2024 at the Lewis and Clark Center on Fort Leavenworth.

Eckhardt received his B.A. (Honors) in 1963 from the University of Mississippi. At Ole Miss, Bill was the band’s drum major for three years and also served in the Army ROTC program where he became the cadet colonel. He then attended the University of Virginia, School of Law where he earned his LLB (Honors). He entered the Army as a second lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps and earned his LLM Equivalent (Honors) in 1970 from The Judge Advocate General’s School, beginning his 30-years of service in uniform.

During his service Eckhardt graduated from the Army’s Command and General Staff College in 1978 and the Army War College in 1982. He was also an author and editor of several significant publications including editing “Law for the Joint Warfighter.”

Ethics-Symposium-27MAR26-42-w — Col. (Ret.) Bill Eckhardt, center, CGSC Foundation Trustee Emeritus, meets with Paul David Miller, Ph.D., left, and Marc LiVecche, Ph.D., during a break in the CGSC Military Ethics Symposium, March 27, 2026, in the Lewis and Clark Center’s MacArthur Room on Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. As a captain in the Army’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps, Eckhardt was chief prosecutor in the court-martial of Army Captain Ernest Medina as part of the My Lai massacre trials in 1970-1971. Miller is the current CGSC Foundation General Hugh Shelton Distinguished Visiting Chair of Ethics, and LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence, non-resident research fellow at the U.S. Naval War College, and adjunct professor of ethics at the U.S. Naval Academy. Eckhardt is a primary source for ethicists and historians who have used the My Lai massacre as a case study for decades since the incident.

Eckhardt was accompanied on many of these journeys and adventures by his wife, Marge, to whom he was married for 57 years. They raised two sons, Will (deceased) and Rob. Additional family includes daughters-in-law Brenda Eckhardt and Carole Eckhardt and grandchildren, Forest Eckhardt, Adrienne Eckhardt, Anita Eckhardt, Alan Eckhardt and Kaili Kreiner. Bill’s siblings are Dr. Karl R. Eckhardt (Pamela), Elizabeth Palmieri (Frank), and Myrna Lott (Bryan).

Funeral services will be held at Second Presbyterian Church, 318 East 55th Street, Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at 2:00 pm. Visitation will follow the service. The service will be livestreamed. The link is available on his tribute page (click the link below)

Inurnment will be at Leavenworth National Cemetery on Monday, Oct. 26, 2026, at 10 a.m. The cemetery is located at 150 Muncie Road, Leavenworth, Kansas. To be admitted, you need to be there prior to the stated time and in line.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to Heartland Camps and Retreat Center, PO Box 170, Waldron, Mo. 64092.

Read his family’s obituary and get the link for the service livestream here