William D. Campbell

Who was William D. Campbell?

William Durant "Bill" Campbell was an early Boy Scouts of America Scouting notable.

Campbell was born in Flint, Michigan. He graduated from Princeton University in 1929 and first went into banking. After a few years, he became a field associate of the American Museum of Natural History and led several of their African expeditions. During World War II, Campbell was a battery commander. He retired as a major.

Campbell was a world leader of the Boy Scouts and received Scouting awards from seven countries. He helped establish the World Scout Foundation and served as its chairman from 1969 to 1977. In 1940 he married Beatrice Hawn, who died in 1987. They had one daughter, Margot Bogert, who was also a world Scouting leader and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Sarah Lawrence College. Campbell also served on the World Scout Committee of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from 1961 until 1965, and again from 1973 to 1985. Campbell was awarded the Bronze Wolf, the only distinction of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, awarded by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, in 1959.