Willem Adolf Visser 't Hooft (1900-1985) was a Reformed churchman from the Netherlands, of remarkable vision, who became the first general secretary and guiding influence in the World Council of Churches and of Protestant ecumenism in the 20th century.

Willem Adolf (Wim) Visser 't Hooft was born in Haarlem, The Netherlands, in 1900 of a well-to-do, bourgeois family, and he died in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1985. His father was a lawyer, his paternal grandfather a judge, and his maternal grandfather a Remonstrant pastor who became a member of the Dutch Parliament.

In 1912 he entered the Classical High School, concentrating on languages. After graduation he considered studying theology, and he entered Leiden University in 1918. In 1921 he began his association with the World Student Christian Federation.

His social conscience was sharpened by a visit to the Woodbrooke Quaker Centre near Birmingham, England, in 1919 or 1920, and at a later Woodbrooke reunion he met...