2005 Fredericton Encaenia - Ceremony C
Campbell, David M.
Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.)
Orator: Turner, R. Steven
Citation:
ENCAENIA, MAY, 2005
DAVID M. CAMPBELL
to be Doctor of Letters
A self-proclaimed Type E personality-‘E’ for Entrepreneur – David Campbell left his Fredericton birthplace at age 12 to settle in Montreal, where, in Depression-era Canada, opportunities seemed better. The second child of a pair of accidental Canadians with a Jewish heritage and a Scottish name, he found ideal role models in his hard-working parents and by the time he was in grade eight has started his first business, selling school supplies to his classmates.
In his recently published, highly readable business book come autobiography, The Way of an Entrepreneur, Do You Really Need an MBA?, David Campbell chronicles his career and the many lessons he learned along the way. From the proverbial paper route to the corner office in his own multi-million-dollar telecommunications company, Davis Campbell never ceased to take risks, seize the advantage, identify new markets, and, most important, satisfy his customers.
Anyone familiar with post-World-War Montreal would likely remember Dave Campbell’s Melody House, a record store that, in the 1950s, became one of the city’s leading appliance dealers. Selling televisions gave him an interest in what would be viewed on them, so he then became one of Canada’s early cable television providers and the first in Canada to broadcast NHL and CFL games to subscribers.
Having established a source of recurring revenue- one of his major business precepts – he went on to found the Beeper People, one of Canada’s first pager companies; Combined Market Quotations or CMQ, Canada’s largest supplied of real-time financial informational and finally International Teledata Group, which provided enhanced messaging services, transmitting millions of pages of information across Canada and internationally. In the latter part of his career, he became a venture capitalist, helping others like himself to bring new ideas to market. “Not bad,” as he writes in his book, “for a pedlar’s kid from Fredericton.”
For more than 60 years, supporting his success while raising their three sons, Davis Campbell’s wife Vivian has been a full partner in his enterprises. He credits the beauty of the Maritimes for developing a sensibility that blossomed into a lifelong avocation: the collection of art and other beautiful objects. Together, he and Vivian have acquired, exhibited and donated the works of many Canadian and European artists, most notably Edvard Munch.
The Cambells have also distinguished themselves as philanthropists, establishing the Vivian and David Campbell Family Foundation in 1987, and have since then generously supported museum studies, health care, education, the arts and music in Toronto, which has been their home since 1973, and beyond.
We know from David Campbell’s illuminating book that he attended but did not complete a degree at Concordia University in the 1940s, and we know from the title of his book, Do You Really Need an MBA?, that he has some reservations about the usefulness of formal education. Nonetheless, it gives us great pleasure today to recognize and give credit for the many lifetime achievements of this remarkable self-made entrepreneur and native son of New Brunswick.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
DAVID M. CAMPBELL
to be Doctor of Letters
A self-proclaimed Type E personality-‘E’ for Entrepreneur – David Campbell left his Fredericton birthplace at age 12 to settle in Montreal, where, in Depression-era Canada, opportunities seemed better. The second child of a pair of accidental Canadians with a Jewish heritage and a Scottish name, he found ideal role models in his hard-working parents and by the time he was in grade eight has started his first business, selling school supplies to his classmates.
In his recently published, highly readable business book come autobiography, The Way of an Entrepreneur, Do You Really Need an MBA?, David Campbell chronicles his career and the many lessons he learned along the way. From the proverbial paper route to the corner office in his own multi-million-dollar telecommunications company, Davis Campbell never ceased to take risks, seize the advantage, identify new markets, and, most important, satisfy his customers.
Anyone familiar with post-World-War Montreal would likely remember Dave Campbell’s Melody House, a record store that, in the 1950s, became one of the city’s leading appliance dealers. Selling televisions gave him an interest in what would be viewed on them, so he then became one of Canada’s early cable television providers and the first in Canada to broadcast NHL and CFL games to subscribers.
Having established a source of recurring revenue- one of his major business precepts – he went on to found the Beeper People, one of Canada’s first pager companies; Combined Market Quotations or CMQ, Canada’s largest supplied of real-time financial informational and finally International Teledata Group, which provided enhanced messaging services, transmitting millions of pages of information across Canada and internationally. In the latter part of his career, he became a venture capitalist, helping others like himself to bring new ideas to market. “Not bad,” as he writes in his book, “for a pedlar’s kid from Fredericton.”
For more than 60 years, supporting his success while raising their three sons, Davis Campbell’s wife Vivian has been a full partner in his enterprises. He credits the beauty of the Maritimes for developing a sensibility that blossomed into a lifelong avocation: the collection of art and other beautiful objects. Together, he and Vivian have acquired, exhibited and donated the works of many Canadian and European artists, most notably Edvard Munch.
The Cambells have also distinguished themselves as philanthropists, establishing the Vivian and David Campbell Family Foundation in 1987, and have since then generously supported museum studies, health care, education, the arts and music in Toronto, which has been their home since 1973, and beyond.
We know from David Campbell’s illuminating book that he attended but did not complete a degree at Concordia University in the 1940s, and we know from the title of his book, Do You Really Need an MBA?, that he has some reservations about the usefulness of formal education. Nonetheless, it gives us great pleasure today to recognize and give credit for the many lifetime achievements of this remarkable self-made entrepreneur and native son of New Brunswick.
From: Honoris Causa - UA Case 70, Box 2
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