Bill Campbell, one of the most influential mentors in Silicon Valley, has died, leaving an unmatched legacy of companies from Apple to Google to Intuit that he helped turn into world-changing forces.

“Coach,” as Campbell was known not only for his onetime job as a football coach at Columbia University but also his coaching of countless entrepreneurs and executives such as Apple’s Steve Jobs and Google cofounder Larry Page, died early Monday morning after suffering from cancer for several years. He was 75.

Campbell’s role in advising and bringing together people in the Valley is legendary. Nowhere was the value of his measured counsel more epitomized than by the fact that for several years, he sat on the boards of both Google and Apple, even during the time when the two companies became mortal enemies on the mobile phone front. He later left Google’s board, staying on at Apple until 2014.

“He was the ultimate coach,” Yogen Dalal, former longtime partner at Mayfield Fund and a colleague of Campbell’s at Apple’s Claris software division, said in an interview. “He believed in people and could make them do wonders. He energized people and got them to solve the problem.”

Campbell often offered his coaching at the Old Pro, a sports bar he owned in downtown Palo Alto, directly across the street from Coupa cafe, meeting place for a new generation of tech entrepreneurs, and at Jin Sho in Palo Alto, which Dalal said was his favorite restaurant. He has called the Old Pro his greatest investment.

Steady hand

Campbell admitted he was less a visionary than an operating executive. He was best known, however, for nurturing young executives such as Twitter’s and Square’s Jack Dorsey, Amazon.com’s Jeff Bezos and LoudCloud’s Ben Horowitz, providing the kind of crucial connections for startups that most venture capitalists only wish they could. He also provided a steady hand for executives of some large companies such as Apple and Intuit.

Apropos of his nickname, what set Campbell apart from the tech investors he worked with, his legions of admirers have repeatedly noted, is a singular focus on people and helping them lead teams. “Bill was all about people and not about money, and not about companies,” said serial entrepreneur and author Jerry Kaplan, cofounder of GO Corp. where Campbell served as CEO in the early 1990s.

At the same time, he was very private, rarely granting press interviews and often downplaying his influence. His friends and colleagues were just as protective of him. Years ago, when I wanted to write a feature story on Campbell and asked one of his venture colleagues to put in a good word for me, the VC said he would have to read the stories I write for the next few months to see if I was worthy.

Indeed, the news of Campbell’s death went public this morning unleashed an outpouring of appreciations and elegies from executives, VCs and entrepreneurs, who viewed him as a champion of startup founders.

“A man with a huge heart, who hugged everyone he met with, was more than a mentor,” Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Alphabet (Google), wrote in a post on Google+. “He helped us build Google and in countless ways made our success possible. … His contribution to the success of Google and now Alphabet is incalculable.”

John Doerr, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who stepped into a new role as chairman at Campbell’s urging, tweeted that the Valley “lost a giant.” He went on: “Bill was our SuperCoach – colorful confidante and mentor for leaders and whole teams. His legacy will live forever in the hearts of teams striving for excellence.”

Ben Horowitz, now a partner at the VC firm Andreessen Horowitz, said in a heartfelt post on Medium: “Whenever I struggled with life, Bill was the person that I called. I didn’t call him, because he would have the answer to some impossible question. I called him, because he would understand what I was feeling 100%. He would understand me. I have never known anyone else who could do that like Bill.”

Management inspiration

On Facebook, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg wrote that Campbell, who coached her, was an inspiration for her own management style: “Bill was generous, focused, experienced – and shared his wisdom and time freely, expecting nothing back but the joy he got from teaching and coaching others. So many times since then, when I am asked for advice by those who are figuring what their jobs are, I think of Bill and try to live up to the example he set.”

Campbell inspired entrepreneurs now shaking up venture capital, too. “I was weighing an offer at a VC firm, tweeted angel and early-stage investor Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital. “Coach told me ‘Go it alone. You suck at having a boss!’ Lowercase was born.”

And he remained an inspiration even to people who didn’t know him. “I met Bill Campbell once in an elevator leaving an event,” Nikhil Krishnan, a tech industry analyst at CB Insights, tweeted. “In 2 minutes, he convinced me to jump headfirst into tech.”

Campbell came to the Valley after getting hired as vice president of marketing by then-CEO John Sculley, running Apple’s Claris software division. Campbell left after Sculley declined to spin off Claris. Since 1997, the year Steve Jobs returned to Apple, Campbell served on the company’s board until he left in 2014.

Campbell also was CEO of GO Corp., a far too early pen-based tablet company, and CEO of Intuit from 1994 to 1998. Despite all those roles, he will always be remembered chiefly as “Coach.”

GSV Capital, on whose board Campbell served did a short tribute last year. There’s also a recent podcast with Campbell here. And here’s an earlier video interview with Ben Horowitz that provides more samples of the salty wisdom that drew so many people to seek Campbell’s counsel:

Photo courtesy of GSV Capital