Will E. Jackson

Who is Will E. Jackson?

William E. Jackson served with Greenpeace in its early years, as crew member on the first anti-whaling expedition, and as cofounder of Greenpeace San Francisco. A pioneer synthesizer player, Jackson was aboard the Greenpeace V as part of the media campaign to demonstrate whale intelligence, and to disrupt Russian whaling. He was one of six persons out of a rotating pool of 35 to remain aboard throughout the expedition. Bob Hunter, cofounder and first president of Greenpeace, credits Jackson with saving him from drowning at Triangle Island.

Following on the success of that voyage, Jackson opened the San Francisco office of Greenpeace. With the assistance of Fund for Animals, and eco-filmmaker Stan Minasian, and commercial pilot Al Johnson. Jackson launched a grassroots media campaign, struggling from a South-of-Market condemned hotel to gain volunteers and donations, in preparation for the first anti-sealing expedition, and the follow-up whale expedition of 1976.. These accounts and others are referenced in Robert Hunter's book, Rex Weyler’s Greenpeace, the Hunter-Weyler collaboration To Save A Whale, and The Greenpeace Story.