Edwin Denton Campbell served as the dean of the School of Business at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., and executive vice president of Itek Corp. in Bedford.
Edwin D. Campbell, dean and businessman
Edwin Denton Campbell served as the dean of the School of Business at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., and executive vice president of Itek Corp. in Bedford.
Edwin Denton Campbell, a college dean and business leader, died Aug. 14 at his Dartmouth home from complications of vascular dementia. He was 82.
He served in many leadership roles, including as the dean of the School of Business at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., and executive vice president of Itek Corp. in Bedford.
Dr. Campbell was born in Brookline and raised in Dorchester. He attended Boston Latin and English high schools until he was 15, when he lied about his age and enlisted in the Marines in 1943. Before his discharge, he confessed to officials. He was a member of the Fourth Marine Division and fought in the Pacific Theater, participating in the battles of Kwajalein, Saipan, Tinian, and Iwo Jima, and was in training for the invasion of Japan when World War II ended.
After he was discharged, Dr. Campbell attended the Bentley School of Accounting and Finance (now Bentley University) in Waltham, and graduated in 1948 with a bachelor’s degree in accounting.
Upon graduation, Dr. Campbell joined the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Boston, where he stayed for several years. In 1953, he became vice president of Laboratory for Electronics in Waltham.. In 1962, he was appointed executive vice president at Itek.
Dr. Campbell went back to school in 1969, entering Harvard’s Graduate School of Education. He graduated in 1975 with a doctorate in education.
Around the time he enrolled at Harvard, he began dating Crystal Cousins Campbell of Brooklyn, N.Y. Dr. Campbell’s first two marriages, to Patricia Clements and Adele D. Campbell, had ended in divorce.
“We both shared similar antiwar views,’’ Cousins Campbell said.
The couple married in 1973 in Boston. In their 36 years of marriage, they lived in Cambridge, Washington, D.C, New York City, and Princeton, N.J., settling in South Dartmouth.
Dr. Campbell was president of the
In the 1980s, Dr. Campbell was dean of the School of Business at Adelphi University, and from 1990 to 1996, he served as executive director of the Coalition of Essential Schools at Brown University.
Bob McCarthy worked alongside Dr. Campbell at the coalition.
“He felt that his main job as a leader was to make sure his employees were treated fairly and well supported and advocated for,’’ McCarthy said.
Dr. Campbell served on the boards of many organizations and also was a trustee emeritus of both Bentley and the Educational Development Center.
He also “loved sailing, music, books, and traveling,’’ Cousins Campbell said. “He especially enjoyed good food and good company.’’
Dr. Campbell’s son Sean Lloyd of New Bedford said the two shared a love for sailing.
“He essentially taught me how to be a real sailor,’’ Lloyd said. “I did not know what the responsibilities were, being the person who actually has to manage the boat.’’
Lloyd said he had many memories of boating with Dr. Campbell, who once owned a 41-foot yacht.
Dr. Campbell leaves four other children: Geraldine of Wilmington, N.C., Linda Campbell Tunnicliffe of Meredith, N.H., David of Belmont, and Jennie Kristel of Burlington, Vt. He also leaves nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A memorial service was held.
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