Jere Brian Ratcliffe was a professional Scouter in the Boy Scouts of America who was the ninth Chief Scout Executive.
13 Facts About Jere Ratcliffe
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Jere Ratcliffe was awarded Eagle Scout in 1955 and as an adult was presented with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
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Jere Ratcliffe decided to make a career as a Scouting professional and attended the National Training School.
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Jere Ratcliffe was first assigned as a scout executive in 1976, later becoming the Scout executive of the Heart of America Council in Kansas City, Missouri where he became Chief Soaring Lone Eagle of the Tribe of Mic-O-Say.
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Jere Ratcliffe served as Scout Executive for the former Birmingham Area Council, circa late 1970s; that council merged with two other councils in the 1990s to form the Central Alabama Council.
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On February 1,1993, Jere Ratcliffe accepted the position of the Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America.
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Jere Ratcliffe said Scouting, "is one of the few programs that still focuses on values, and values seem to be a quality many of our young people lack today".
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The year before, in April 1997, Jere Ratcliffe was arrested at Miami International Airport when the security scan showed he had inadvertently left a handgun in his luggage.
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Jere Ratcliffe created the James E West Fellowship, the 1910 Society, and the Founders Circle to focus on endowments.
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Jere Ratcliffe received a retirement benefit of $2.6 million when he retired in May 2000.
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Jere Ratcliffe received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Wittenberg in 2004.
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Jere Ratcliffe lived in Southlake, Texas and served on the coordinating committees of the World Organization of the Scout Movement and the World Foundation.
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Jere Ratcliffe died on August 21,2015 at the age of 78.