William Dodsworth de Camp, 1917-2005 William Dodsworth de Camp, a lifelong resident of Short Hills and Ocean County, NJ, investor, conservationist, and philanthropist, died at home on Sunday, January 16, surrounded by his wife and family. The cause of death was complications from basal cell carcinoma acquired during military service in World War II. A gifted self-taught naturalist, Mr. de Camp’s interest in nature began during his explorations of the woods near his childhood home on West Road in Short Hills and of nearby rural areas of Summit. He attended Short Hills Country Day School, the Choate School in Wallingford, CT, and the Hun School in Princeton, NJ. His summers were spent in Bay Head and Mantoloking, NJ, where his activities centered on his family, the sport of sailing, and land conservation. He served as Vice Commodore and Commodore of the Mantoloking Yacht Club, and as the representative of the Mantoloking Yacht Club to the Barnegat Bay Yacht Racing Association, where he advocated for the sailors, often vocally. He was a recipient of the O.G. Dale trophy for service to the B.B.Y.R.A. During World War II he was recruited to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), originally training agents in outdoor survival and hand-to-hand combat. Later, with the rank of sergeant, he led a unit conducting clandestine operations behind Japanese lines between Kunming and Canton, China. Sergeant de Camp was awarded both a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for this service. Sergeant de Camp is believed to have been the first allied soldier to enter Canton after the Japanese surrender. His discharge papers from the OSS made note of a lesion on his right ear, which was recognized decades later as basal cell carcinoma. The condition necessitated numerous surgeries during the last thirty years of his life, involving significant disfigurement that he accepted without vanity. Following the war he married Janet Oliver of Pittsburgh and returned to Short Hills to raise his family. During the 1950s he worked as a textile sales representative for Avondale Mills. Turning down an offer of a promotion and transfer by that firm, Mr. de Camp chose to remain in New Jersey and turned to the investment business, working for the firm of Pennington & Caulket, and then for Janney Montgomery Scott for twenty years. Following the death of his first wife in 2001, he married Eleanor Parker Baker of Wittman, MD, in 2003. Mr. de Camp was an active contributor to civic causes, especially those involving conservation of land in its natural state. His special gift was his ability to convey the excitement of nature to those less familiar with its wonders. Many a youthful eye was opened to the joy of nature after a walk in the woods with Bill de Camp; opened also by these inspirational walks were the wallets of many contributors to successful conservationist causes. Three of his philanthropic enthusiasms merit special note. First, he supported and inspired the Trust for Public Land – a national, private, not-for-profit conservation group – in pursuing acquisition of the 1500 acre Reedy Creek tract in Brick Township, NJ. This project led eventually to the protection of thousands of acres of wetlands and woodlands throughout Ocean County. These efforts continue today under the leadership of the US Fish & Wildlife Service, Save Barnegat Bay, and the Trust for Public Land. The “de Camp Trail”, a public access trail maintained by the Fish & Wildlife Service at the entrance to the Reedy Creek Unit, memorializes these efforts. Second, in memory of his daughter he founded and funded the Emily de Camp Herbarium – an educational botanical exhibit open to the public at the Interpretive Center at Island Beach State Park. The exhibit, which contains physical specimens and botanical descriptions of every plant species found at Island Beach, has attracted interest from botanists internationally and has been recognized by the Smithsonian Institution. A third notable philanthropic enthusiasm was his annual sponsorship of a “Birdathon”, on behalf of the Audubon Society’s Francis Beidler Forest in Harleyville, SC. On a one-day field trip at the peak of the spring migration, Mr. de Camp and a select group of friends would tally the total number of bird species they could observe in New Jersey. Donors would then meet their pledges to the Audubon Society on the basis of the number of bird species observed. Mr. de Camp was a principal founder, along with Judge Frederick Colie, of the Cora Hartshorn Arboretum in Short Hills, on whose Board of Directors he served for fifty years. Mr. de Camp personally knew Miss Cora Hartshorn, who contributed the seventeen acres and stone house that together with its personnel comprise the arboretum. His ongoing concerns for the arboretum were that it remain as wild as possible rather than be allowed to gradually become a mere park, and that educational programs and educators not be underfunded. Shortly before his death Mr. de Camp was made an honorary member of the Short Hills Club, where he was a lifelong member, Chairman of the House and Grounds Committee for decades, and a regular fixture at the first table by the entrance to the dining area. William Dodsworth de Camp is survived by his wife, Eleanor Parker Baker-deCamp, of Wittman, MD; a brother and sister-in-law Michael Anderson de Camp and Wesley Martin de Camp of Edenton, NC; two daughters and sons-in-law, Margo Oliver de Camp and David Marietta, of Gambier, OH, and Janet Wood de Camp and David Jarvis of Colchester, VT; a son, William Jr., of Mantoloking, NJ; nine grandchildren, Renée Emily de Camp Thomas Scott and her husband David Thorne Scott of Somerville, MA, Amy Leah de Camp-Thomas, of Rutland, VT, Grant Oliver Knight Peacock of Rahway, NJ, Emily Elizabeth Peacock, of Woods Hole, MA, Susan Oliver and Laurel Rose Marietta of Gambier, OH, and Sarah Margaret, Cody Wood, and Maria Morrill Jarvis of Colchester, VT. Notwithstanding his age, he leaves also many devoted friends. A great-grandchild is expected in April. Mr. de Camp’s first wife, Janet Oliver, predeceased him in January of 2001. His daughter Emily de Camp died in 1995. His brother Laurent de Camp predeceased him. In lieu of flowers friends may contribute generously to the charity of their choice or to: Francis Beidler Forest, c/o National Audubon Society, 336 Sanctuary Rd, Harleyville, SC 29448; Save Barnegat Bay, 906-B Grand Central Avenue, Lavallette, NJ 08735; or the Trust for Public Land, New Jersey Field Office, 20 Community Place, 2nd Floor, Morristown, NJ 07963. A memorial service was held at Christ Church in Short Hills on Thursday, January 20.