Distinguished Eagle Scout Robert Dick Douglas Jr., the longest-serving Eagle Scout in the award’s 103-year-old history, died Dec. 23 in Greensboro, N.C. He was 103.

Douglas earned the Eagle Scout award at age 13 on Dec. 8, 1925. According to the National Eagle Scout Association, he was the longest-tenured recipient of the Eagle Scout award after holding the rank for 90 years.

Douglas extolled Scouting’s influence on his life during a Scouting Newsroom interview in early October after accepting the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award Sept. 24, 2015.

“Scouting taught me that I could do just about anything I wanted to undertake,” he explained. “Scouting taught me to be self-reliant. It taught me to feel like if I really wanted to do anything, I could do it.”

The centenarian shared a bevy of Scouting stories including being chosen as one of three Scouts to take on a safari expedition to Africa in 1928. The same expedition led Douglas to write a national best-seller, “Three Boy Scouts in Africa.”

Douglas later committed himself to other pursuits including becoming a labor and employment law attorney, FBI special agent, prominent community leader, and family man.

Learn more about this Distinguished Eagle Scout’s incredible lifetime achievements by heading to Bryan on Scouting. To read his New York Times obituary, click here. 

Photo by Randy Piland