He was a large, imposing figure and tough when he needed to be, but Jack Campbell didn't show it much.
As a math teacher to classrooms full of boys at St. Thomas Academy for nearly four decades, "Prof" Campbell, as they called him, instead led by example and connected with kids in a way not all teachers could, former students said.
Campbell died Saturday of heart and kidney failure. He was 94.
Campbell met his future wife, Iris McGraw, while they were both in seventh grade in Litchfield, Minn. He was salutatorian of their high school class; she was valedictorian, something she teased him about, his family said. A high school football coach encouraged Campbell to go to college and helped get him into St. Thomas. He married Iris in 1942, the year he began teaching at St. Thomas Academy in St. Paul.
He left the school for a couple of years to serve in the Navy as a radar tech during World War II. He also spent a couple of years trying the camping trailer business, but he came back to St. Thomas because he loved teaching and the school, friends and family members said. Faculty members at St. Thomas, many of whom also served in the war, were his social circle, now known as the "old guard."
Campbell was brilliant at math, and could explain it to students who weren't, said Gerry Brown, a former student who went on to become a teaching colleague at St. Thomas. "When someone can do that and they can turn on the light in the eyes of a student ... that's a great talent."
He and Iris raised four boys in their south Minneapolis home. He went to school early each day, coaching wrestling, track and football afterward, and grading homework at home at night. He found time to help students who needed extra attention, his son Jack Campbell said.
"We had kids that would come by our house ... and knock on the door and ask for help," his son said. "It always surprised me. I'd answer the door ... and I'd see a senior asking 'Is Prof Campbell home? Prof, can you help me with this?' He was extraordinarily patient."
