Remembering Colin G. Campbell, former Winrock International Board Chair
Winrock International mourns the passing of Colin Campbell, an influential former member of Winrock’s Board of Directors who served as board chairman during a transformative six-year period in the 1990s. Campbell passed away on June 21, 2024 at his home in South Carolina surrounded by his family; he was 88.
He served with dedication and distinction as Winrock’s board chairman, receiving an award “for his outstanding contributions and distinguished leadership, which, coupled with his sensitive approach to challenging issues, has shepherd[ed] the organization during a period of unparalleled growth, challenges and accomplishments,” according to a May 1999 Winrock board resolution.
Prior to joining Winrock’s board, Campbell served as the long-running president of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He also led the Rockefeller Brothers Fund from 1988 to 2000, serving as its president “with signature warmth and patience during a period of extraordinary growth,” according to a tribute published by RBF.
Campbell helped lead the Global Interdependence Initiative, “one of the first efforts to illuminate the ways in which the world’s nations, peoples, and ecosystems are inextricably linked,” according to RBF. After his work with the Fund, Campbell became president and chief executive of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, a historic site restoration in Williamsburg, Virginia, initiated by John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
He was married for 65 years to Nancy Nash Campbell, a preservationist and former board chair of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The couple’s eldest daughter, Betsy Campbell, is also a former member of the Winrock Board of Directors and, like her father, also served as a former board chair. In addition, Campbell is survived by three other children, a son- and daughter-in-law, and eight grandchildren.