William O’Brien Boldt was a longtime Englewood resident, Democratic activist, and professor whose quiet but persistent style of organizing helped shape local and national progressive movements over several decades. A graduate of Dartmouth College, he earned his Ph.D. in political science from the City University of New York, where he later taught as a professor. Beyond academia, Boldt worked in a variety of professional and administrative roles, including serving as director of the Housing Office at the Memorial Center for Cancer and as a corporate communications writer.

Boldt was deeply involved in progressive causes beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Alongside his second wife, Gladys “Billie” Joan Boldt, he marched in demonstrations supporting school integration, affordable housing, economic development, and opposition to the Vietnam War. In the late 1960s, he played a key role in organizing a voter registration drive that led to a Democratic takeover of Englewood’s municipal government after more than sixty years of Republican control, reshaping the city’s political landscape for decades to come. He later served on both the Englewood Planning Board and the Redevelopment Commission.

On a broader stage, Boldt became especially known for his leadership in the anti-nuclear movement, serving as head of the New Jersey Campaign for a Nuclear Freeze during the 1980s. He devoted enormous personal energy to the cause, frequently transporting large replica missiles to demonstrations in support of a statewide referendum to halt further nuclear weapons production. His political commitment dated back to a formative experience in 1932, when he witnessed World War I veterans being forcibly removed from Washington, D.C., by U.S. Army troops, an event that convinced him that civic action was necessary when democratic promises failed.

Friends and colleagues remembered Boldt not as a fiery ideologue, but as a respectful and thoughtful activist who believed deeply in persuasion and dialogue. Even after the death of his wife in 1994 and despite declining health, he remained active in Democratic politics and public protest, famously marching on weakened legs in Washington to oppose the U.S. invasion of Iraq shortly before his final illness. He remained engaged in local political affairs until his death in 2004 at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center from meningitis at the age of 86.

Boldt was married first to Elizabeth Roberts and later to Gladys “Billie” Joan Boldt. He was the father of four children—Michael, Christopher Anne Affleck, Linda Fleetwood, and Sally Boldt—and the grandfather of actor Ben Affleck. Although widely known locally for his lifelong activism rather than his famous descendant, William O’Brien Boldt left a lasting legacy in Englewood through his commitment to democratic participation, social justice, and principled civic engagement.