Robert S. Mueller III, a 1973 graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and former FBI director, died Friday at age 81.
Born in 1944 in New York and raised in New Jersey, he earned a bachelor’s degree from Princeton University in 1966 and a master’s degree from New York University. After the death of a friend in Vietnam, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, serving as a second lieutenant leading a rifle platoon and later as a general’s aide. He received multiple military honors, including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart.
Then-Law School Dean John C. Jeffries Jr. and Mueller prepare for the 2003 graduation ceremony. (Photo by Tom Cogill.) At right, Mueller appears in the Law School’s 1971 yearbook, Barrister.
After his military service, Mueller attended UVA Law and began his legal career as an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco, later becoming chief of the criminal division. He also served as deputy U.S. attorney in Massachusetts and assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. In 1998, President Bill Clinton appointed him U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California.
President George W. Bush nominated Mueller to serve as FBI director, and he took office on Sept. 4, 2001. His tenure began a week before the Sept. 11 attacks, after which the bureau shifted significant resources toward national security and counterterrorism. Congress extended his 10-year term by two years in 2011.
After leaving the FBI, Mueller worked in private practice and on federal matters, including serving as settlement master in litigation related to Volkswagen emissions violations. In 2017, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein appointed him special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. You can read more about Mueller in .
