William Close

William Taliaferro Close (June 7, 1924 – January 15, 2009) was an American surgeon who played a major role in stemming a 1976 outbreak of the Ebola virus in Zaire, the first major outbreak of the viral hemorrhagic fever in Central Africa, and preventing its further spread. He was also the father of actress Glenn Close and husband of Bettine Moore Close. Early life William Close was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, on June 7, 1924, minutes after his twin brother Edward Jr. His parents were Elizabeth (née Taliaferro) and Edward Bennett Close, an attorney; his mother was a member of the Taliaferro family, one of the First Families of Virginia. William had two half-sisters, Adelaide Breevort (Close) Riggs and Eleanor Post Close (Eleanor Post Hutton), from his father's first marriage to Post Cereals heiress and General Foods owner Marjorie Merriweather Post. Raised in France, he attended Summer Fields School, Harrow School in England, and then St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire. Close enrolled in Harvard College in 1941, leaving the school two years later to marry and to become a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II. He served as the personal pilot and interpreter for General Joseph Harper. Following his military service, he attended the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, and he trained in surgery at Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan after receiving his medical degree.