John Campbell: passionate, provocative and dearly missed

In private, John Campbell's many friends knew him as a passionate theologian and philosopher.

In the public arena, he was better known for his pugilistic political commentary.

The large Free Methodist church on St. Joseph's Island was filled yesterday with mourners who came to lament the loss of a local journalistic giant.

Both on the airwaves and here on SooToday.com, Campbell carved a niche of respect and became the voice of controversial news issues in Sault Ste. Marie during his 35-year career of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable.

He was fondly remembered yesterday by Russ Hilderley, a longtime friend and broadcasting compatriot.

"He lived and breathed his career in news and broadcasting," Hilderley said during the eulogy he delivered. "He was absolutely tireless, a provocative commentator, a philosopher."

It was Hilderley who recruited Campbell to do the news for CKCY in 1967.

He said his new hire quickly developed a highly individual style that made his broadcasts provocative, informative and wildly popular.

"His steadfastness to the truth ... sometimes got him in hot water," said Hilderley. "He never shied from a challenge to his ideas. A challenge only fuelled his convictions ... unless the challenge was well thought-out and well-reasoned."

Hilderley painted Campbell as a man with a great love for ideas and for big words, which he used effectively. Pastor Tom Gurnic concurred.

"John was a man who was passionate about ideas and people," said Gurnic, describing Campbell as a brilliant and moving speaker.

Gurnic told how Campbell had once, early in his life, considered becoming a minister in the Free Methodist Church.

"I told John he would have made an incredible pastor," said Gurnic.

But Campbell's path led him, instead, to the Sault Daily Star in 1959 and later to the news departments of CKCY, and Q104/CHAS FM of Sault Ste. Marie, as well as CKSO Sudbury, CKCO Kitchener and CKFM Toronto.

His uniquely accessible philosophy of life can be studied in the many musings he posted on his Campbell Comment website.

Here's a sample:

******************* "I need to start taking that extra moment to consult the source of right and good and receive the answer from within that I am prepared to live with.

Yes or No will do nicely and that would put an end to the worry about some test that I've said Yes to that I really don't want to have done.

Cheers I'm John Campbell"

******************* That excerpt was written on December 28, 2004.

In May of 2005, Campbell was informed of a lesion on his brain and a tumour on his left kidney.

He continued to write and to actively interact with family, friends and peers after he entered the Palliative Care unit at Sault Area Hospital, where he passed away on Sunday, August 7.

******************* Other SooToday.com coverage of John Campbell's story

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