William Joseph Levada is an American cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. From May 2005 until June 2012, he served as Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Pope Benedict XVI; he was the highest ranking American in the Roman Curia. He was previously the Archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995, and then Archbishop of San Francisco from 1995 to 2005. Levada was elevated to the cardinalate in 2006. The cardinal's resignation as prefect for reasons of age was accepted on Monday, July 2, 2012. He was succeeded that same day by Bishop Gerhard Ludwig M�ller of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Regensburg in Regensburg, Germany, who was named an archbishop. 

June 15th, 1936 in Long Beach  /  Died:   Sep 26th, 2019 - aged 83