When Ken Woodcock was seven years old, his father took him fishing on Trout Brook, a pristine stream traversing the property of family friends in Middleville. The child was mesmerized by this unfamiliar and dreamy world: the sounds of the water splashing over rocks and winding through a dense and mysterious forest. This weekend fantasy would be repeated for the next few summers and inspired a lifelong reverence for the world of nature. As he grew taller, the young man began to develop a sense of duty to protect that beauty.

Seven decades later, after retiring from a very successful career in engineering and while continuing to lengthen his remarkable record of triumphs in environmental and historic preservation, Woodcock recalled that magical childhood memory deep in the woods. He had moved on to much bigger ponds over the years and had already distinguished himself as a leading philanthropist. In October of 2021 he was honored in Rhode Island with the Rhody Award, the highest acknowledgement in that state for achievements in historic preservation.

His forty-year track record of projects was evidence of his eligibility for this prestigious recognition. He began funding land conservation back in 1980 and fifteen years later added historic preservation to his philanthropic portfolio. Most of these projects are located in Matunuck, Rhode Island, where he and his wife Dottie spend several months every year, splitting their time between homes in Matunuck and in Washington, D.C.

Woodcock’s many historic preservation projects include the country retreat of Reverend Edward Everett Hale (1822-1909) and his family of artists and writers who summered there from 1873 to 1910. Hale was an author, historian and Unitarian minister who is best known for works such as Man Without a Country. Yet not all of Woodcock’s projects preserve brick and mortar structures. In 2002 he formed the Willow Dell Historical Association in Wakefield, Rhode Island, to gather oral histories from longtime residents in Matunuck. Even intangible culture can be made more concrete and preserved for future generations.

His biggest project, however, was not in Rhode Island, but in New York State. The 67-acre Lyndhurst Estate, overlooking the Hudson River in Tarrytown, is a multi-structure complex. The lavish Gothic Revival mansion was first built in 1842 and in 1880, at the height of the Gilded Age, was bought by railroad tycoon and financier Jay Gould. It is now open to the public.

Woodcock’s philanthropic resources are the fruit of his thirty-five-year career with the AES Corporation, the global electric company which he helped to establish in 1981. He travelled to more than fifty countries on AES business before retiring in 2004. In each country he squeezed in time to visit art museums and galleries and soon became an art collector, eventually focusing on historic American art.

Woodcock studied mechanical engineering at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania and earned an MBA from the University of Pittsburgh in 1966. His early career included work at the U.S. Public Health Service, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. In January of 2021 he made a major donation to Lehigh University and designated it specifically for the preservation of the University’s “teaching collection” of art works, in hopes of making these masterpieces accessible to all students, including engineers like himself.

This past January, when Woodcock was sitting back and reflecting on his very full life, he conjured up images of experiences at Trout Brook during his formative years. He hadn’t been there in half a century, but his memories were vivid. His curiosity was piqued and he began to google and call around. His research bore fruit and revealed that the region around Stillwater had emerged largely unscathed from the tsunami of “progress” that much of New Jersey had experienced in recent decades. The natural environment was green and well protected and the storybook town of Stillwater was still lined with historic buildings dating back to the 1700’s.

His investigation eventually led him to the Historical Society of Stillwater Township (HSST) located in a small two-story building constructed as a school in 1842. There he discovered a group of people who were passionate about the history of their little corner of the world. They were determined to keep it alive through educational programs, a charming museum of local artifacts and relentless preservation of historic sites. Woodcock appreciated their enthusiasm and dedication and reckoned that a little boost could make a big difference in helping them to fulfill their mission.

He offered HSST a three-year donation aimed at what he calls “capacity building.” His financial support always comes with mentorship and professional guidance, so he suggested that the historical society use the funds to improve its communications and outreach, update its website, expand membership and get everyone in the community hooked on local history.

From the perspective of the team running the historical society in Stillwater, however, Woodcock’s appearance on the scene was an extraordinarily puzzling development. Who was this guy, anyway? What did he want? No living person in Stillwater had ever met him, or even heard of him. His approach seemed too quixotic to be reliable.

For Woodcock, there was nothing risky or unusual about trusting his own intuition and investing his wealth to support people who were clearly committed to preserving local history. He had been doing this on a much larger scale for decades. It was obvious to him that Stillwater was a unique spot in today’s rapidly changing world. A rare endangered species, Stillwater was a great investment.

The Historical Society of Stillwater may be the smallest organization on a long list of distinguished institutions that are recipients of support from Ken and Dottie Woodcock. Among them are the Kennedy Center, the Washington National Cathedral and the Washington National Opera, the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Preserve Rhode Island, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and South Kingstown Land Trust in Rhode Island. In addition to funding, that support includes investing an extensive amount of time in mentorship and in attending Board meetings. To the Woodcocks, it is time well spent. “We want to make the world a better place,” he states simply.

Despite a demanding schedule of meetings and phone calls related to his many projects, Kenneth Woodcock is disciplined about work-life balance. He always makes time to enjoy his family and grandchildren, to take a three-mile run every morning and to indulge in his number one passion: fly fishing.