Robert “Bob” Campbell, a popular former Democratic state assemblyman and Richmond City Councilman known as a voice for the most vulnerable, died Friday following a 2 1/2-year battle with lung cancer. He was 82.
A native of Los Angeles, Campbell moved with his family to Richmond when he was a young child and grew up with his mother and stepfather in Atchison Village, a World War II housing project. He would later attend Contra Costa Community College, graduate from San Francisco State University, and join the U.S. Army and the California National Guard.
A liberal but pragmatic lifelong Democrat, Campbell won a seat on the Richmond City Council in 1975, serving until 1980 when he was elected to the California State Assembly District 11. He remained a legislator for 16 years before being termed out and later making an unsuccessful run against colleague Barbara Lee for the senate seat. After that, he was appointed to the California Coastal Commission by then-Assembly Speaker Cruz Bustamante.
Despite his achievements, Campbell never forgot his roots, working tirelessly to help the most vulnerable in his district and beyond, his former chief of staff Eric Zell said.
“He really cared about taking care of the most vulnerable,” he said. “He was really a man of the people and that is how he approached everything he did.”
Sometimes Campbell’s humility would frustrate the chief of staff, though, because he always wanted to remain in the back of the room with the people, even when he was a keynote speaker.
“With most elected officials they want to be seen, they want to be front and center,” Zell said. “Bob was just the opposite. He would not sit at the head table. He would say, ‘I’m not better than anyone else. I’m sitting here back with everyone else.’ ”
Campbell’s mother, Addie, was of Spanish descent and taught him to speak the language early on, Zell said. Being fluent in Spanish helped the assemblyman, who liked to get out into the community and speak with everyone he could. For years, he was also heavily involved with the legislature’s Latino Caucus.
“He had great relationships with the Latino and African-American communities,” Zell said.
Campbell’s district office in the heart of Richmond always was known for serving everyone who came to visit no matter their issues, Zell said. During tax season, the bustling office would schedule appointments every 15 minutes to helps those who had trouble reading and writing with filling out tax credit forms, he recalled.
“We took care of people in that office like it was a Social Service Agency — whatever their issue was we took care of them,” Zell said. “Nobody’s problem was too little.”
Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia also remembers Campbell as a “progressive “voice” for those most in need who spent a lot listening to residents.
“He had a reputation for listening to people. Sometimes he would jokingly say he was a socialist,” said Gioia, who knew Campbell for four decades. “He felt very much that the government could play a positive role to improve people’s lives.”
Campbell loved the California coast and was a passionate advocate for environmental protection. He carried bills for coastal protection throughout California, flood control, and conservation all over Contra Costa County and the Carquinez shoreline as well as expanding the Endangered Species Act.
The issue closest to his heart, though, was education, Gioia said, noting Campbell was the chair of the Assembly’s subcommittee on education.
“He always thought it was important to get out into the schools, to educate students about the workings of government and hear their concerns,” he said. “He was diligent about doing that.”
Delaine Eastin, former state schools superintendent, remembers Campbell’s passionate work on educational issues, including when the then-Richmond Unified School District became the first in California’s history to go bankrupt.
“At first he thought we were overstepping our bounds, but when he found out about the scandals — that they were no trivial mistakes — he was much more helpful in getting things done,” she said. “He wanted to make sure the kids got their education.
“We needed people who would put their shoulders to the wheel and not just shut down the schools. He helped build a coalition with me to keep the schools open and make it less likely that this will happen again.”
Though passionate about issues, Campbell could discuss them with reason, she said.
“Bob was just about trying to get the work done,” she added. “He was genuine, the real deal. … He served with great dignity and energy. He was well-informed and when he opened his mouth, he had something to say.”
Sometimes that something did make the assemblyman unpopular, however. Like when he became the only state legislator to vote against a bill that would increase penalties for anyone who shot a police officer.
“He believed that every human life was equal,” Zell recalled. “He said, ‘I totally respected police officers but a human life is a human life.”
Retired Rep. George Miller, who also knew Campbell for decades, remembers him as “a first-class representative of the county.”
“He was very hardworking in the legislature, he worked on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “He was driven for his district and very driven on education and public issues like housing, feeding programs and the like.”
Miller called Campbell a “grassroots politician who went into the neighborhoods and walked door to door” and mentored youths who wanted to work in campaigns. A politician with “a great sense of humor,” he attracted organizers to the campaigns, he said.
“He was just a bundle of fun to be with,” he added.
In his personal life, Campbell made a living early on as an insurance broker and later bought M.A. Hays Insurance Brokers in Richmond. In his final years, he worked as a consultant for school and college districts and continued as a lobbyist in Sacramento.
To most observers, Campbell, a longtime vegetarian, was the picture of health, exercising regularly, never smoking or drinking. He overcame breast cancer, but in October of last year cancer had spread to his lungs, his former chief of staff said.
Campbell leaves behind his wife, Maria Viramontes; a son, Kirk Campbell of Richmond; a daughter, Lisa Campbell and partner Chios Holguin, and a grandson, all of Davis; stepsons Armando Viramontes of Richmond, David Viramontes and Andres Uyeda; grandchildren Andrew Viramontes, Livia Uyeda-Tannyhill, and Kelly Reck of Richmond.
Services are pending.