RICHARD J. CAMPANA

ORONO – Richard J. Campana died Friday, April 1, 2005, at his home in Orono. He was born Dec. 5, 1918, in Everett, Mass., the son of Joseph Campana and Sarah Agnes Shea. He grew up in Everett, one of six siblings in an active family. His mother died when he was 12. Dick graduated from Everett High School and worked at a dispensary in Boston for two years before crossing the country by bus to enroll in the University of Idaho. He received a BSF in forestry from the University of Idaho in 1943. Soon after graduation, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. He served as a medical NCO in Germany and France and was awarded the Bronze Star for service in battle. For a short time he was a prisoner of war. After the war, under the GI Bill, he entered Yale and received an MS in Forestry in 1947. He served as an instructor at the Pennsylvania State Forestry School in Mont Alto and as an assistant professor of botany for two years at North Carolina State before returning to Yale for a Ph.D. in forest pathology. In 1949, he became a plant pathologist with the Natural History Survey in Champaign/Urbana, Ill. At that time, Dutch Elm disease was beginning its destruction of the elms that lined the streets of cities and towns in the Midwest, some so large that they formed canopies over the streets. Dr. Campana began his professional study and observation of the disease in the Midwest. In 1958, he came to the University of Maine as the head of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, a position that he held for 10 years. His teaching and research on Dutch Elm disease continued and with it travel to towns and cities coping with the imminent loss of their shade trees. Dr. Campana was a teacher, researcher and widely-consulted expert on Dutch Elm disease for more than 40 years. He had teaching and research relationships with many institutions of higher education, including the University of California and Virginia Poly Technical Institute, and leaves a legacy, extending through his many graduate students, of major contributions to his field. His numerous publications, public service and active participation in professional scientific organizations were well-recognized, He was given the University Presidential Achievement Award in 1984. In 1985, he retired as professor emeritus, was inducted into the Idaho Alumni College of Fame and was elected a Fellow of the American Phytopathological Society. Dr. Campana’s retirement was only a partial one Under the auspices of the International Society of Arboriculture, he wrote “Arboriculture: History and Development in North America,” published in 1999. He was again honored by the University of Maine for giving a beautiful old elm near Hitchner Hall a long life. It was injected against Dutch Elm disease in 1978 and again in 2004. It still survives and is known as the Campana Elm. Although formally trained as a scientist, Dick was an avid reader of history and biography. When asked for gift ideas the answer was always “books.” His wish was usually granted. He was predeceased by a brother and two sisters, Joseph Campana, Katherine Giromini and Marian Thomas. He is survived by two brothers, Robert and David Campana, and a sister, Eleanor Eisele. He was proud of his own family, his wife, Jean MacKenzie Campana, with whom he had hoped to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in July; his children, Jane Campana and husband, Tom, Mark Campana and wife, Marie Rivet; his grandchildren, Caitlin and Nicholas Earley and David Campana. He is also remembered with affection by his many nephews and nieces. A Memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Friday, April 8, at Brookings-Smith, LaBeau Chapel, 72 Main St., Orono. With the Rev. John Pickering, officiating. The family invites relatives and friends to share conversation and refreshments as well as reminiscing at the same facility after the service. Dick was a strong supporter of the health of the trees on the University Of Maine Campus. If you wish to support this cause in his memory, please give to the Campus Natural Heritage Endowment Fund. Please make your check to the University of Maine Foundation and mail to the University of Maine Foundation, Two Alumni Place, Orono, ME 04469-5792.