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Obituary: Dr. Campbell W. McMillan

Posted on October 23, 2008 by Staff

Dr. Campbell White McMillan, 81, of Chapel Hill, died peacefully at sunrise on October 13th in the health center at Carol Woods Retirement Center in Chapel Hill.
On January 10, 1927, Campbell was born in Soochoo, China where his parents, Leila and Hudson McMillan of Scotland County, were Southern Baptist missionaries.

He attended Shanghai American School before moving to the USA in 1939 when war broke out in China. He graduated from Whiteville High School in 1943. In 1948, he graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Wake Forest University, having served in the US Navy in 1944 and 1945. Following college and aided by a Pepsi Cola scholarship, Campbell attended Bowman Gray (now Wake Forest University Medical School), graduating in 1952. He interned at Boston City Hospital and did his residency at Children’s Hospital in Boston, including a six-month exchange residency in London England at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington. While at Children’s Hospital, Campbell met and married Florence MacKenzie of Concord, NH. From London, they traveled to Shiraz, Iran where Campbell initiated the pediatric department at Nemazee Hospital. Upon returning to the States, he became an instructor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and an assistant physician at Children’s Hospital Medical Center while completing a fellowship in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology. He returned to North Carolina in 1961 to start a general practice in Laurinburg, NC.

His “UNC” life began in January of 1963 when he was recruited to be the first full-time Pediatric Hematology/Oncology faculty member. While at UNC, he served as associate director of a clinical research unit for 13 years. He also started a monthly AHEC Pediatric Hematology/Oncology clinic in Wilmington, NC, a thriving clinic that still exists today. He authored more than seventy scholarly works on Pediatric Hematology/Oncology and received numerous honors and awards throughout his career.

“Dr. Mac” is best known for his gift of treating the whole child and being able to look beyond a disease and discover who a child truly is. Former students, colleagues and patients of Dr. McMillan all remember him for his tremendous ability to exude love and understanding as well as his captivating smile.

Dr. McMillan is survived by his wife of 53 years, Florence; six children, Ian Johnson Nassar-McMillan and his wife, Sylvia; Sally Hudson McMillan; Donna Jean McMillan; Andrew Duncan McMillan; Wendy McNeill McMillan Smith and her husband, Andrew; Bridget White McMillan Pemberton-Smith and her husband, David; five grandchildren, Gabriel Malcolm Nassar-McMillan, Julia Skye Nassar-McMillan, Ivy MacKenzie Smith, Duncan McKinney Smith and Miguel Pemberton-Smith.

A funeral service was held Oct. 20 at The Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Pediatric Hematology/Oncology department of UNC Hospitals, Chapel Hill or to the Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill.

The family would like to thank UNC Hospice as well as the staff of the Health Center at Carol Woods for their many acts of kindness and compassionate care during his last weeks.

2 thoughts on “Obituary: Dr. Campbell W. McMillan”

  1. krystal miles says:
    January 2, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    my God i can’t believe your gone, I have been looking for you to tell you how much i thank you for taking such good care of my sister melanie before she died in 1989. she was 13, i was 11 and i still remember how you always made us laugh and it was ok to cry too…we love you “DR.MAC”

  2. Pat Helton says:
    March 16, 2011 at 10:30 am

    I often have thought of Dr. McMillan and wondered if he were still living. He was truly an angel here on earth. He was my beloved son, Chris Powell’s, oncologist from 1975-1978. I still have the note he sent to us when Chris passed away. I know it had to be so hard on him when his kids didn’t make it, but it was his calling to do all he could for them while they had a fighting chance of survival. My son had the extreme privilege of being treated by Dr. Mac in a way that made him feel loved and cared for. Every parent facing these difficult times can somehow fight through the hard times when they know their children really matter to those rendering the treatments. There are many little angels in heaven who were no doubt waiting for him with outstretched arms and beaming smiles on their faces. May he rest in peace until we see him again. We who knew him were truly blessed.

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