UNMH Quietly Removes Former Gov. Bill Richardson Name from Children’s Hospital Tower Amid Epstein Connection

Albuquerque –

In 2007, then-New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was flanked by dignitaries from the University of New Mexico Hospital and lawmakers at a groundbreaking at UNM Hospital. The golden shovels turned dirt over on the construction of what would be the children’s hospital wing. The wing was named after the now-late Governor Bill Richardson and his wife, Barbara.

The tower was completed in 2008 and provided pediatric operating rooms, intensive care units and neonatal ICU, and OB inpatient beds. The adult and pediatric emergency rooms and adult ICUs are also located in this building.

Gov. Bill Richardson was a transformative figure that gained international prominence, becoming a U.S. Representative for New Mexico from 1983-1997. He was then named the U.N. Ambassador to the U.S. from 1997-1998. He was then appointed as the Department of Energy Secretary under then-President Bill Clinton from 1998-2001. He was also elected to two terms as New Mexico Governor from 2003-2011.

In 2007, Gov. Richardson announced intentions to run in the 2008 Presidential election. However, on January 10, 2008, he officially announced his withdrawal.

Richardson dabbled in international hostage releases for U.S. citizens from foreign governments who held them for criminal offenses.

Recently, a trove of Jeffrey Epstein files have been released to the public and a search query of “Bill Richardson” pulls up 817 entries. The files mention dinner plans with Epstein and Richardson at his home in New York for dinner and other meetings ranging from 2010 to 2016.

There was a sworn affidavit that people received massages that involved nudity, sex acts and sex toys, and at times involved underage girls. Gov. Richardson was named in the documents as having received a massage, although it did not go into any other details.

Documents allege that former Gov. Richardson met with Epstein at least nine times after Epstein’s conviction, including a visit to Epstein’s private island in 2010. Their last meeting purportedly happened in 2018. Emails also show that Epstein also asked Gov. Richardson to contact Florida’s Governor Charlie Crist for a pardon in 2010. Gov. Crist denied ever talking to Gov. Richardson, who at the time Gov Richardson had just returned from a oversees trip from North Korea.

We reached out to the University of New Mexico Hospital if the hospital would rename the hospital tower. UNMH Spokesman Chris Ramirez sent an email:

“When UNM Hospital opened the Critical Care Tower in 2025, it provided an opportunity to update and standardize exterior signage across the campus. To improve wayfinding for patients and families, several changes were made, including renaming the building formerly known as the “Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion.” As the hospital continues to grow, the three buildings that make up the campus are now identified as the “Main” building (the oldest and easternmost), the “Pavilion” (opened in 2008), and the “Critical Care Tower” (the newest building, opened in October 2025).“

We sent a follow up email at 9:00AM and pointed out the fact the website still had Bill and Barbara Richardson on the UNMH website. By 1PM, the name had been changed.

We pressed spokesman Chris Ramirez if the Epstein connection was the reasoning behind the removal of Bill Richardson from the public view and if any policy exists within to rename buildings with controversial figures.

Chris Ramirez: “The first step was to standardize the exterior signage.  We are in the process now of going through interior signage, websites,  internal communications, patient messaging, etc. to update our new nomenclature. 

Regarding policy you referenced, I’m not aware of any UNM Hospital policies that address this.  I have checked our policy portal with some keyword searches and nothing is coming up. “

We followed up to see if UNMH would give a more direct answer and received this email response:

ABQ RAW: “Is it fair to say UNMH is not commenting on the Epstein/Richardson connection to rename the Barbara and Bill Richardson Pavilion?”

Chris Ramirez response: “Journalistically, I think it’s fair to report what I’ve told you. There is no connection to Epstein.  The building is no longer named after Richardson and hasn’t been for some time.  

As mentioned, the building no longer is named after former Gov. Richardson.”

UNMH did not directly say the renaming was because of the Epstein connection.

We will update this story if UNMH has any more statements regarding the removal of the late-Governor Bill Richardson from UNMH signage and marketing. Richardson died on September 1st, 2023 in his sleep in his home at Chatham, Massachusetts.