Portal:Scouting/Selected biography archive/2009

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• Jan 31, 2009 - Hōjō Tokiyuki was an early noted leader of Scouting in Japan. In 1885, Hōjō graduated from the Mathematics Department, Science Faculty of Tokyo Imperial University and became a teacher. In 1908, Hōjō attended an international conference on morality in London, England, at the request of Japanese Minister of Culture, Makino Nobuaki (牧野伸顕). One of the reasons for his trip was to conduct a survey of the British Scouting organization, and its applicability towards furthering the Japanese government's program of instilling moral education in schools. He returned to Japan with Scout uniforms and documents on Scouting, and took an active role in promoting the Japanese Scouting movement in Hiroshima and elsewhere in Japan. In 1913, Hōjō was appointed head of Tohoku Imperial University. He became head of the Gakushūin Peers's School in 1917. In 1920, Hōjō became an advisor to the Imperial Court, and was appointed a member of the House of Peers of the Diet of Japan.

• Feb 28, 2009 - Mona Burgin (1903-1985) was a teacher and active in the Girl Guide movement in New Zealand. She corresponded with David Cossgrove and founded Guide and Ranger units in New Zealand. She was also the first Guider into Germany after World War II and lead international training teams. She was awarded the Silver Fish, the highest international guiding honour, in 1945. In 1959 she was made an MBE for services to youth. GirlGuiding New Zealand Foundation Mona Burgin Scholarship is a scholarship enabling adult leaders from New Zealand to attend an overseas or New Zealand event or training, in order to refresh their enthusiasm and gain new ideas.

• Mar 31, 2009 - Eduardo Missoni (1954-) is an Italian medical doctor who specializes in tropical diseases. He has been active in numerous social causes. He was appointed as the Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement from April 1, 2004 through November 30, 2007, when he resigned as a result of the WOSM crisis of 2007.

• Apr 30, 2009 - Katharine Furse founder of the English Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) force, was born Katharine Symonds, daughter of the poet and critic John Addington Symonds and Janet Catherine North. Her aunt was the famous painter Marianne North. She was involved in extensive Red Cross and Royal Navy work during World War I. In 1920, Furse formed the Association of Wrens and this led to her becoming head of the Sea Rangers and for ten years, from 1928 to 1938, was director of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts whose constitution she drafted. Her last public appearance was at the Conference of Former Scouts in London in September 1952.

• May 31, 2009 - Salvador Fernández Beltrán was among the first in the Americas to receive Wood Badge training, at Gilwell Park. He was the first to receive an honorary appointment as Deputy Camp Chief of Gilwell. He was a major influence on Scouting in Latin America, especially in his native Cuba. With the support of the Boy Scouts of America, he was appointed the International Bureau's Traveling Commissioner for Latin America in November 1947, the first professional Scout executive, whose operations center was first in Mexico and then in Cuba. He later served as General Secretary of the Inter-American Advisory Committee, assisting in the creation of the InterAmerican Scout Office. In 1955 he held the first Wood Badge training in Venezuela. At the beginning of the 1960s Fernandez Beltrán was appointed to the office of Deputy Secretary of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in Geneva, Switzerland. He was awarded the Bronze Wolf by the World Scout Committee for exceptional services to world Scouting, in 1957.

• Jun 30, 2009 - Eberhard Koebel was a German youth leader, writer and publisher. As a youth, Koebel was a member of the Wandervogel. Koebel soon became a leader in the movement, inventing the Kohte, a tent design that consists of several smaller canvas panels that are carried by individuals and then assembled when they reach the campsite. During the Nazi era, he narrowly escaped the Night of the Long Knives and worked with the Free German Movement in England.

• Jul 31, 2009 - Francis Gidney was an early leader of the Scouting movement in the United Kingdom and organized the first Wood Badge adult leader training course at Gilwell Park in September 1919. He became the first Gilwell Camp Chief in May 1919 and served until 1923. The Gidney Cabin at Gilwell was named in his honour and serves as a training centre. His pen-name was "Gilcraft". Gidney started one of the first Scout troops in 1908, when he was only 17 years old. Gidney then served in World War I. Disputes over how Gilwell Park should be managed led to Gidney resigning in 1923, which greatly upset the founder of the Scouting movement, Robert Baden-Powell. Gidney then worked as a Master at a preparatory school in Bournemouth. Gidney's influence upon Scouting, especially in the areas of camp management, training, and Wood Badge, can not be underestimated. It was his idea to start the 1st Gilwell Scout troop for all Wood Badge holders, with its distinctive neckerchief and he successfully established the pattern still used for modern-day Gilwell reunions. From a discussion with William Hillcourt in 1989, Gidney was the source of the 'Turk's head' woggle, part of the award set.

• Aug 31, 2009 - Michel Tacq, or Mitacq, was an author of Belgian comics who was involved in Scouting for most of his life. La Patrouille des Castors (The Beaver Patrol) was a successful comic series that made him famous. Scouting's culture had a large impact on his work, as did Pierre Joubert and Jijé.

• Sep 30, 2009 - Norman Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States, where Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening Post magazine over more than four decades. Among the best-known of Rockwell's works are the Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter (although his Rosie was reproduced less than others of the day), Saying Grace (1951), and the Four Freedoms series. He is also noted for his work for the Boy Scouts of America (BSA); producing covers for their publication Boys' Life, calendars, and other illustrations.

• Oct 31, 2009 - Eric Sherbrooke Walker was hotelier and founder of the Outspan Hotel and Treetops Hotel in Kenya, as well as a decorated military officer. He is remembered as the host of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip when they visited Treetops in 1952, shortly before receiving news of the death of King George VI and Elizabeth's accession to the throne. Walker was associated with the Scouting movement, and was a personal secretary to Baden-Powell, the founder of the movement. He was one of the first two Scout inspectors, overseeing all of Wales and the South of England. He was present at Baden-Powell's first Scout camp in Humshaugh in 1908, and toured Canada with sixteen Scouts in 1910 to demonstrate Scouting.

• Nov 30, 2009 - Robert Michael Gates (born September 25, 1943) is currently serving as the 22nd United States Secretary of Defense. He took office on December 18, 2006. Prior to this, Gates served for 26 years in the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council, and under President George H. W. Bush as Director of Central Intelligence. Immediately after being recruited by the CIA, he served as an officer in the United States Air Force. After leaving the CIA, Gates became president of Texas A&M University and was a member of several corporate boards. Gates also served as a member of the Iraq Study Group, the bipartisan commission co-chaired by James A. Baker III and Lee H. Hamilton, that has studied the Iraq War. He was also the first pick to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security when it was created following the September 11 attacks, but he declined the appointment in order to remain President of Texas A&M University. Gates is a Distinguished Eagle Scout of the Boy Scouts of America and former President of the National Eagle Scout Association.

• Dec 31, 2009 - Heinz Zemanek (born January 1, 1920) is an Austrian computer pioneer, known primarily for building the first computer working entirely on transistors on the European mainland, called Mailüfterl, in 1955. In 1954, he supervised a thesis, in the course of which the LRR1 was developed, probably the only logical machine ever built in Austria. He was active in the Scouting movement most of his life. Heinz Zemanek was an active Boy Scout since 1932 and served later as Scout Leader, International Secretary of Austria from 1946 to 1949 and International Commissioner of the Pfadfinder Österreichs from 1949 to 1954. At the Austrian National Jamboree in Laxenburg in 1936 Heinz and other Scouts constructed the telephone network and carried it on a business during the camp. He was among the founders of "Unser Ziel", which was the official magazine for Scout Leaders of the Pfadfinder Österreichs. The Scout Leader war responsible for the organization of the 13th World Scout Conference in Salzburg. Zemanek was also involved in the preparations for the 7th World Scout Jamboree, which took place in Austria in 1951 and he attended. In 1963 he visited the 11th World Scout Jamboree in Greece.