PASSINGS : William J. Porter; U.S. Delegate to Paris Peace Talks

William J. Porter, 73, chief U.S. delegate to the Paris talks that ended the Vietnam War. A native of Staleybridge, England, he became an American citizen in 1936 when he was 22. He began his foreign service that year as private secretary to the U.S. ambassador in Budapest. From 1962 to 1965, Porter served as the first U.S. ambassador to Algeria. He later served as deputy ambassador to South Vietnam, ambassador to South Korea, undersecretary of state for political affairs and ambassador to Canada. He retired in 1977 as ambassador to Saudi Arabia. In July, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon named Porter chief delegate to the Paris talks to succeed David K. E. Bruce, who was retiring because of illness. In Fall River, Mass., on Tuesday of cancer.