John Campbell OBE was an International Forester of repute, a successful and respected businessman, a Rotarian, a man of integrity, kind and generous and a loyal and loving family man. He was a professional and visionary leader in diversified and integrated Forestry in the 1960s to 1990s and was a passionate advocate for planting trees and economic sustainability.
John Campbell was born in Sunderland in 1932. He attended grammar school in County Durham and then went to Bangor University where he obtained a BSc (Hons) in Forestry in 1954. After a short spell with the Forestry Commission, he devoted his working life to creating the Economic Forestry Group which became the largest private Forestry organisation in the UK. He was Group Chief Executive for over twenty years until his retirement in 1991.
In 1987, John Campbell received national recognition by being honoured with the O.B.E for his services to Forestry.
John served on the university advisory boards for Oxford and Aberdeen Universities and as a member of the Council of The Royal Forestry Society for over 25 Years. He served on The European Forestry Committee in Brussels and published many papers and gave many lectures including a key-note speech at the International Forestry Conference in Australia to celebrate the Bi-Centenary in 1988. The following year he was to become the first person outside North America to be invited to give the University of California annual Forestry lecture at Berkley after suffering a heart attack only 6 months before!
He was appointed a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters of Great Britain and was on the National Council for the Timber Growers UK. He was also a Life Member and served on the Board of the Institute of Directors as well as awarded a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Once retired he became a Commissioner of Taxes but devoted his service mainly through Rotary. He became a Rotary member in 1974 and was President in1989 but he will be remembered for “Operation Tree-Link” which started in 1991 bringing schools and tree planting together around the World. He also established an avenue of trees called “Rotary-Way” across Hughenden Park, High Wycombe and the club won The Rotary Presidential award for its contribution to the Environment.
John Campbell helped shape the Private sector’s role in Woodland Management, Biodiversity, Education and Climate Change. His impact wasn’t just in the trees he planted, it was in the roots he laid for future generations. John and his EFG Group of companies have been an important influence towards UK forestry policy and current forestry practices of today. John’s legacy will endure in the forests he nurtured, the lives he touched and the values he instilled in all of us.
Ian Campbell (Son) FInstD , MInstM
Ian.campbell@economicforestrygroup.com
“Forest to Family”