Campbell was born on June 20, 1941 in Leura, New South Wales, outside of Sydney, Australia. His father was a recreational sailor who helped American ships navigate near the Great Barrier Reef, as part of assistance he provided to the United States Navy during World World War World War II
He obtained his early education in a one-room schoolhouse and later attended North Sydney Technical Collegeas well as Sydney Technical Institution for Wildlife Research.
He traveled on to New York City, working at the Australian consulate there. Campbell was hired by Editor Carpenter, one-time company president and Campbell"s then father-in-law, to work the green chain sawmill. In time and through changes in administration he worked his way up the ranks to executive vice president in charge of forest products, by 1985.
He was named as the firm"s president after the company was the subject of a hostile takeover by Charles Hurwitz.
Campbell was named chief executive in 1993. In order to pay off the costs associated with the $900 million purchase of the company, Pacific Lumber increased the pace of cutting on the more than 300 square miles (780 km2) of timber it owned which included clusters of old-growth California redwoods.
This more aggressive logging incurred the opposition of environmental groups, which staged protests aimed at stopping Pacific Lumber"s logging efforts. In 1999, Pacific Lumber"s parent, Maxxam Incorporated., signed the Headwaters agreement, in which Pacific Lumber sold 10,000 acres (40 km2) to the federal government and the State of California for $480 million, and the firm agreed to stricter environmental restrictions on logging on its remaining land.
In October 2001, Pacific Lumber named Robert East. Manne as president and Chief Executive Officer replacing Campbell, who became chairman of the firm"s board of directors.
