IRVING, Texas (April 18, 2016) – Bill Campbell, the namesake of the NFF William V. Campbell Trophy, the 2004 NFF Gold Medal recipient and the longest serving board member of the National Football Foundation (NFF) & College Hall of Fame, passed away today. Born Aug. 31, 1940, Campbell was 75.

“We lost a giant today and certainly one of the most prominent and significant leaders in NFF history,” said NFF Chairman Archie Manning. “Bill touched so many people and organizations during his lifetime, and we were incredibly fortunate that he chose the NFF as his vehicle for giving back to the game he loved so much. His reputation brought immediate credibility to all of our efforts, and he worked with us on numerous occasions to leverage his relationships to further the NFF’s mission. He was a great friend, and we are incredibly proud to carry on his legacy of leadership as the namesake of our top scholar-athlete award.”

“We are incredibly saddened by the passing of Bill,” said NFF President Steve Hatchell. “He embodied the term leadership, and he used his experiences as a player and coach at Columbia to build one of the most successful business careers in the Silicon Valley as a confidant to generations of our country’s most influential business leaders. Nobody had a bigger heart or gave back more to the game. His philanthropic efforts included quietly giving away tens of millions of dollars during his lifetime while continuing to coach an eighth grade football team near his home in California. He truly was a remarkable individual, and our thoughts and prayers are with his family and many, many friends.”

Bill Campbell joined the NFF Board in 1978 while he was still a coach at Columbia, and he continued to serve with distinction until his passing. In 2004, the NFF recognized Campbell’s contributions and accomplishments by presenting him with the NFF Gold Medal, the organization’s highest honor. In 2009, the NFF named college football’s premiere scholar-athlete award as the William V. Campbell Trophy in his honor. The trophy is currently presented by Fidelity Investments, displayed at its official home inside the New York Athletic Club and endowed by HealthSouth with a $25,000 annual scholarship.

Known as “The Coach of Silicon Valley,” Campbell played critical roles in the success of Apple, Google, Intuit and countless other high tech companies. The captain of Columbia’s 1961 Ivy League championship team, he found his true calling after an unlikely career change at age 39 from football coach to advertising executive. His ability to recruit, develop, and manage talented executives – all lessons learned on the gridiron –  proved to be a critical component of his ability to inspire his business teams to the highest levels of success.

Campbell has been a major NFF supporter with several large donations to support the organization’s youth development programs over the years, and he endowed one of its prestigious postgraduate scholarships in the name of his late brother, James J. Campbell, who was a three-sport athlete at the U.S. Naval Academy, including All-America honors in football and lacrosse.

Campbell, who served as the chairman of the board at Columbia, helped foster a strong relationship between the NFF, Columbia and the Ivy League. The relationships led to the NFF co-hosting an annual event, presented by the Pasadena Tournament of Roses, that provides the stage for announcing the recipient of the Asa S. Bushnell Cup to the Ivy League’s Football Players of the Year.

WILLIAM V. CAMPBELL BIO

Campbell grew up outside of Pittsburgh in Homestead, Pa. His father worked two jobs, pulling nights in a mill and days as a high school teacher and basketball coach. Football reigns supreme in Western Pennsylvania, and Campbell played guard and linebacker in high school. Bright and energetic, Campbell migrated east to play football at Columbia University for Coach Buff Donelli.

A four-year student-athlete, Campbell captained the 1961 Ivy League Championship football team, which was inducted into the Columbia Athletics Hall of Fame in 2010, and earned All-Ivy League accolades as a senior. In a 1974 interview, Donelli described him as “the best captain I ever had. He’s a person who made more of an imprint on people who know him than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Campbell graduated from Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1962, later earning a master’s degree in education also from Columbia. Before entering the business world at age 39, Campbell held several football coaching jobs as an assistant at Columbia University and then Boston College before landing the head job at his alma mater from 1974-79.

After his coaching stint, Campbell embarked on a legendary career, starting as a vice president of J. Walter Thompson, a New York based advertising agency, and then as a general manager of consumer products at Eastman Kodak Europe. He joined Apple Computer in 1983, and he rose to the level of executive vice president. He went on to found and served as president and CEO of Claris Corporation, which Apple purchased in 1990.

During his tenure at Apple, he played a critical role in a high-risk decision to air the famous “1984” ad directed by Ridley Scott that introduced the Mac during Super Bowl XVIII. The ad, which would be named the greatest commercial ever made by Advertising Age, helped build Apple’s legend and its transcendent brand.

From 1994-98, Campbell served as the president and chief executive officer of Intuit, the maker of Quicken, QuickBooks, and Turbo Tax. Campbell also served as CEO of the company from September 1999 until January 2000. He would go onto serve as chairman. During his tenure at Intuit, the company's market value grew substantially, starting at $700 million and growing to more than $26 billion today.

Campbell joined the Columbia University Board of Trustees in 2003 and was named chair just two years later. He led the university through one of the most dynamic eras in its history – one that included the planning and groundbreaking of the new Manhattanville campus, the opening of the University’s Global Centers, the successful completion of the record-setting Columbia Campaign and The Columbia Campaign for Athletics: Achieving Excellence, the creation of the Columbia Alumni Association and many more initiatives.

Because of his tremendous leadership and passion for Columbia Athletics, the university dedicated the Campbell Sports Center in his honor in October 2013. The state-of-the-art 50,000 square foot athletics headquarters at the Baker Athletic Complex on West 218^th Street became the first new athletics building for Columbia since the mid-1970s. In fall 2014, the athletics program retired uniform number 67 – the number Campbell wore as an offensive lineman and linebacker for the 1961 Ivy League Champions - for all 31 of Columbia’s varsity teams.

Campbell is survived by his son, Jim, daughter, Maggie, wife, Eileen Bocci, three stepchildren, Kevin, Matthew and Kate Bocci, and his former wife, Roberta.