Colin Goetze Campbell

Colin G. Campbell, who served as president of three internationally renowned educational and philanthropic organizations over a career that spanned more than six decades, died on June 21 at his home in Bluffton, South Carolina. He was 88.

The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease.

In 1970, at age 34, Campbell became the youngest-ever president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He followed his 18-year tenure at Wesleyan with 12 years as president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, leading its global philanthropic efforts. In 2000 he became the president and CEO of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the restored colonial capital of Virginia.

Colin Goetze Campbell was born on Nov. 3, 1935, in New York, New York. His father, Joseph Campbell, was the fourth comptroller general of the United States and a former treasurer of Columbia University. His mother, Marjorie Campbell, was one of the most prominent women in Connecticut politics during the 1950s and ’60s. Colin Campbell, the youngest of five sons, was also close to his stepmother, Dorothy Bostwick Campbell, an artist and philanthropist.

Campbell grew up in New Canaan, Connecticut, graduated from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1957, and earned his JD at Columbia University in 1961. He was married for 65 years to Nancy Nash Campbell, a preservationist and former board chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. In addition to Nancy Campbell, Colin Campbell’s survivors include four children: Betsy Campbell, Jennifer Celata, Colin M. Campbell, and Blair Campbell, as well as son- and daughter-in-laws Robert Celata and Liz Campbell, and eight grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, and Hospice of the Lowcountry in Bluffton, South Carolina.

Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Web: https://www.colonialwilliamsburg.org/

Hospice Care of the Lowcountry
PO Box 3827, Bluffton SC 29910
Web: https://mirasolhealth.org

Wesleyan University
Web: https://www.wesleyan.edu/giving/