William Vincent Campbell Jr. (August 31, 1940 – April 18, 2016) was an American businessman and chairman of the
board of trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit org ...
of
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
and
chairman of the board
The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the group ...
of
Intuit. He was VP of Marketing and board director for
Apple Inc. and CEO for
Claris,
Intuit, and
GO Corporation. Campbell coached, among others,
Larry Page,
Sergey Brin,
Eric Schmidt
Eric Emerson Schmidt (born April 27, 1955) is an American businessman and software engineer known for being the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, executive chairman of Google from 2011 to 2015, executive chairman of Alphabet Inc. from 2015 to 2 ...
, and
Sundar Pichai at Google,
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
at Apple,
Jeff Bezos
Jeffrey Preston Bezos ( ;; and Robinson (2010), p. 7. ''né'' Jorgensen; born January 12, 1964) is an American entrepreneur, media proprietor, investor, and commercial astronaut. He is the founder, executive chairman, and former presi ...
at Amazon,
Jack Dorsey and
Dick Costolo at Twitter, and
Sheryl Sandberg at Facebook.
Early life and career
Son of a local school official, Campbell was born and raised in
Homestead, Pennsylvania, near
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
. He attended
Columbia University
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, where he played football under coach Buff Donelli from 1959 to 1961. In his senior year, he was named to the All-Ivy Team. He graduated in 1962 with a bachelor's degree in
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
.
He was a founder of the Old Blue Rugby Football Club, one of the leading amateur rugby clubs in America.
In 1964, he obtained a master's degree in education from
Teachers College, Columbia University
Teachers College, Columbia University (TC), is the graduate school of education, health, and psychology of Columbia University, a private research university in New York City. Founded in 1887, it has served as one of the official faculties and ...
. He was head coach of Columbia's football team, the
Columbia Lions
The Columbia University Lions are the collective athletic teams and their members from Columbia University, an Ivy League institution in New York City, United States. The current director of athletics is Peter Pilling.
Ivy League athletics
T ...
from 1974 to 1979. Prior to this he was an assistant at
Boston College
Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...
for six years. He met his first wife, the former Roberta Spagnola, while she was the assistant dean in charge of Columbia's undergraduate
dormitories.
He joined
J. Walter Thompson, the advertising agency, and then
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
, where he rose to run Kodak's European film business. He was hired by
John Sculley, became Apple's VP of Marketing, and then ran Apple's
Claris software division. When Sculley refused to spin Claris off into an independent company, Campbell and much of the Claris leadership left. Since 1997, when
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul Jobs (February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011) was an American entrepreneur, industrial designer, media proprietor, and investor. He was the co-founder, chairman, and CEO of Apple; the chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar; ...
returned to Apple, Campbell had served as a corporate director on Apple's board of directors.
Campbell became CEO of
GO Corporation, a startup pioneering a
tablet computer
A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being com ...
operating system. After successfully selling GO Eo to
AT&T Corporation
AT&T Corporation, originally the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is the subsidiary of AT&T Inc. that provides voice, video, data, and Internet telecommunications and professional services to businesses, consumers, and government agen ...
in 1993, Campbell was CEO of
Intuit from 1994 to 1998. Campbell announced that he would be retiring as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Intuit starting January 2016.
Campbell was an adviser to a number of technology companies, and was elected chairman of the board of trustees at Columbia in 2005.
Death and legacy
Campbell died of cancer on April 18, 2016 at the age of 75. He was survived by his wife, Eileen Bocci Campbell, his two children, and his three step children. On April 21, 2016
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple trees are cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus '' Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, where its wild ancest ...
announced that they would be delaying their earnings release until Tuesday April 26, 2016 for a memorial that Apple had held.
In his honor, the
National Football Foundation has issued the
William V. Campbell Trophy since 1990 to the college football player with the best combination of academic, athletic, and community service achievements.
Intuit presents the Bill Campbell Coach's Award to a select number of employees who excel in mentorship and growth, while promoting diversity and sense of community.
Head coaching record
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, William
1940 births
2016 deaths
American chairpersons of corporations
Apple Inc. employees
American nonprofit executives
American technology chief executives
Boston College Eagles football coaches
Chairpersons of non-governmental organizations
Columbia Lions football coaches
Columbia Lions football players
Directors of Apple Inc.
Intuit people
Teachers College, Columbia University alumni
People from Homestead, Pennsylvania
Businesspeople from the San Francisco Bay Area