Ronald Edward Rector was born in Washington, D.C.; he adopted the name Liam in adulthood.
[1] He was the author of volumes of poetry including The Executive Director of the Fallen World (University of Chicago, 2006), American Prodigal (Story Line, 1994), and The Sorrow of Architecture (Dragon Gate, 1984).
[1] With his third wife, Tree Swenson,[1] he edited On the Poetry of Frank Bidart: Fastening the Voice to the Page (University of Michigan, 2007), and edited The Day I Was Older: On the Poetry of Donald Hall (Story Line, 1989).
[1] Rector committed suicide by gunshot in his Greenwich Village apartment on August 15, 2007, at the age of 57.
He had incurred a series of health problems in his last years, including heart disease and cancer, and mentioned this in his suicide note.