{{Short description|American academic administrator (1935–2024)}} {{infobox officeholder | office = 13th President of Wesleyan University | term_start = 1970 | term_end = July 31, 1988 | predecessor = Edwin Etherington | successor = William Chace | birth_name = Colin Goetze Campbell | birth_date = {{birth date|1935|11|03}} | birth_place = New York | death_date = {{death date and age|2024|6|21|1935|11|3}} | death_place = Bluffton, South Carolina | alma_mater = Cornell University<br>Columbia Law School | parents = Joseph Campbell<br>Marjorie Goetze Campbell | spouse = Nancy Nash | relations = | later_work = }}
'''Colin Goetze Campbell''' (November 3, 1935 – June 21, 2024) was an American who served as the thirteenth president of Wesleyan University<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wesleyan.edu/president/pastpresidents/ |title=Presidents of Wesleyan |work=wesleyan.edu}}</ref> and the President of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org/index.cfm |title=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Site}}</ref>
==Early life== He was the son of Joseph Campbell and the former Marjorie Louise Goetze.<ref name="MarjCampbObit1973">{{cite news |title=Mrs. Marjorie Campbell, Worked for the Retarded |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1973/03/14/90930100.html?pageNumber=46 |accessdate=18 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=March 14, 1973 |page=46 |language=en}}</ref> His father was the 4th comptroller general of the United States<ref name="Rpt1967">{{citation | first1 = Elmer B. | last1 = Staats | authorlink1 = Elmer B. Staats | title = Annual Report of the Comptroller General of the United States for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1967 | publisher = Government Printing Office | location = Washington, D.C. | year = 1967 | page = iv | url = http://archive.gao.gov/otherpdf1/087543.pdf}}</ref> and his mother served as president of the board of governors for the Mansfield Training School.<ref name="MarjCampbObit1973"/> His parents divorced and his father remarried to artist and philanthropist Dorothy Stokes Bostwick, the daughter of Albert Carlton Bostwick and granddaughter of Standard Oil founding shareholder, Jabez A. Bostwick.<ref name="JCObit1984">{{cite news |title=Joseph Campbell, U.S. Aide; Led Accounting Offive in 50's |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/22/obituaries/joseph-campbell-us-aide-led-accounting-offive-in-50-s.html |accessdate=18 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=22 June 1984}}</ref>
Campbell attended Cornell University, where he served as the chairman of the Orientation Executive Committee and on the Willard Straight Hall Board of Managers. He was also elected to the Sphinx Head Society in his senior year,<ref>Sphinx Head</ref> before graduating in 1957. Campbell went on to earn a law degree from Columbia Law School in 1961.<ref name="1970President"/>
==Career== Campbell worked at the American Stock Exchange prior to becoming the executive vice president and administrative vice-president of Wesleyan University in order to fulfill his lifelong interest in serving the public good. In 1970, after Edwin Etherington left Wesleyan to make an unsuccessful run for the United States Senate as a Republican candidate from Connecticut, Campbell was elected as the university's thirteenth, and youngest, president.<ref name="1970President">{{cite news |title=WESLEYAN NAMES A PRESIDENT, 34; Campbell, an Administrator, Had Been Amex Official |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1970/10/20/78818691.pdf |accessdate=18 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=October 20, 1970 |language=en}}</ref> He served as president of the university until 1988 when he was succeeded by William Chace, the former vice provost of Stanford University.<ref name="1988Succession">{{cite news |title=Stanford Vice Provost Is New Wesleyan Head |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/27/us/stanford-vice-provost-is-new-wesleyan-head.html |accessdate=18 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 July 1988}}</ref>
Campbell left Wesleyan on July 31, 1988, to join the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a nonprofit charitable organization.<ref name="Ames1991">{{cite news |last1=Ames |first1=Lynne |title=THE VIEW FROM: POCANTICO HILLS; The Kykuit Estate Gets Ready to Greet the Public, in 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/06/nyregion/the-view-from-pocantico-hills-the-kykuit-estate-gets-ready-to-greet.html |accessdate=18 February 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=6 October 1991}}</ref> He latterly served as the Chairman Emeritus of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.history.org/index.cfm |title=Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Site}}</ref>
==Personal life== Campbell was married to Nancy Nash, who later served as chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.<ref name="hollins">{{cite web |title=Nancy Nash Campbell |url=https://www.hollins.edu/175th-anniversary/distinguished-graduates/nancy-nash-campbell/ |website=www.hollins.edu |publisher=Hollins University |accessdate=18 February 2019 |language=en}}</ref> Together, they had four children. Campbell died on June 21, 2024, at the age of 88.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schaffer |first1=Sam |title=Colin Campbell, former president and CEO of Colonial Williamsburg, dies at 88 |url=https://www.dailypress.com/2024/06/21/colin-campbell-former-president-and-ceo-of-colonial-williamsburg-dies-at-88/ |website=dailypress.com |publisher=Daily Press |access-date=21 June 2024}}</ref>
==Notes== {{reflist|30em}}
{{Wesleyan University presidents}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Colin G.}} Category:1935 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Presidents of Wesleyan University Category:Columbia Law School alumni Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Wesleyan University people