William S. Sessions, a director of the F.B.I. under three presidents, from 1987 to 1993, who challenged racial and gender bias in his agency but struggled to redefine its mission in a time of domestic turmoil, and who was fired after being accused of ethical lapses, died on Friday in San Antonio. He was 90.
His daughter Sara Sessions Naughton confirmed the death, at the home of one of Mr. Sessions’s sons. Mr. Sessions had lived in San Antonio as well.
Mr. Sessions arrived in Washington as a figure of stern probity, a Republican hailed by Democrats and Republicans as a scrupulously fair federal judge from West Texas. Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, he sailed through Senate confirmation, 90-0, for what was supposed to be a 10-year term at the helm of 10,000 agents, 56 field offices and the traditions of a storied Federal Bureau of Investigation.
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