Gordon Campbell - Early Life

Early Life

Campbell was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. His father, Charles Gordon (Chargo) Campbell, was a doctor and an assistant dean of medicine at the University of British Columbia, until his suicide in 1961 when Gordon was 13. His mother Peg was a kindergarten assistant at University Hill Elementary School. Charles and his wife, Peg, had four children. Gordon grew up in West Point Grey and went to Stride Elementary, and University Hill Secondary School where he was student council president. While there he was accepted by Dartmouth College, an Ivy League institution in New Hampshire where he had received a scholarship and a job offer so he could afford fees.

Campbell intended to study medicine but was persuaded by three English professors to shift his focus to English and urban management, earning a BA degree in English. At Dartmouth, in 1969, he received a $1,500 Urban Studies Fellowship that made it possible for him to work in Vancouver’s city government. At that time Campbell met Art Phillips, a city councilor and future mayor of Vancouver.

After graduating from university that year, Campbell and Nancy Chipperfield were married in New Westminster on July 4, 1970. Under the Canadian University Service Overseas program, they went to Nigeria to teach. There he coached basketball and track and field and launched literacy initiatives. Campbell was accepted to Stanford to pursue a master’s degree in education, but the couple instead returned to Vancouver where Campbell entered law school at UBC and Nancy completed her education degree. Campbell's law education was short-lived; he soon returned to the City of Vancouver to work for Art Phillips on his mayoral campaign. When Phillips was elected in 1972, Campbell became his executive assistant, a job he held until 1976.

When he left Mayor Phillips's office, at 28 years old, Campbell went to work for Marathon Realty as a project manager. In 1976 Geoffrey, the Campbells' first child, was born. In 1978, the Campbells bought a house in Point Grey, which was their home for the next 26 years. From 1975 to 1978 he pursued his MBA at Simon Fraser University. In 1979, Nancy Campbell gave birth to their second child, Nicholas.

In 1981, Campbell left Marathon Realty and started his own business, Citycore Development Corporation. Despite the economic slowdown that hit Canada that year, Campbell's corporation was successful and constructed several buildings in Vancouver.

After a two-year absence from civic political activities, Campbell became involved in the mayoral campaign of May Brown and was an active supporter of the Downtown Stadium for Vancouver Committee. Although Brown was unsuccessful, Campbell and the committee continued promoting the stadium to revitalize False Creek, which at the time was polluted industrial land. The committee was eventually successful, as Premier Bill Bennett announced the Downtown Stadium project in 1980.