Robert “Bob” Neil Haughton Campbell

Bob passed away peacefully on June 20th at Scarborough General Hospital at the age of 85. Bob is predeceased by his loving wife Elizabeth, his brother Peter and parents, Peter and Irene.
Bob married Liz, his high school sweetheart, in 1963 and had 56 wonderful years together before her passing in 2019. Bob was a loving father to Geoffrey (Kim) and Peter (Suzy), and proud grandfather to Quade and Shayne.
Bob was an adventurer at heart who tackled life with passion and was up for any challenge. In his youth, Bob was a star quarterback, playing for East York Collegiate, Queen’s University and the University of Toronto. Bob also enjoyed skiing and cycling well into his sixties.
Above all, Bob was an avid sailor, and ABYC member who rebuilt a 38-foot, 1968 Hughes sailboat in his backyard. He would spend almost every sunny summer day (and some not-so-sunny days) on Lake Ontario. Even when it looked like rain he would grin and say, “Don’t worry, it’ll blow right over.”
When Lake Ontario wasn’t challenging enough, he would go on sailing trips to other Great Lakes, the U.S. East Coast, even the Caribbean. And when the winter came and he could no longer go out on his sailboat, he fixed that problem by building his own iceboat. His sons remember many occasions spent on a frozen Hamilton harbour, screaming back and forth at top speed across the bay, with nothing for protection but an ancient motorcycle helmet.
As a high school geography teacher, Bob also like to inject adventure into his classes. He loved field trips and even took his students on a small plane for a bird’s eye view of Toronto as part of his urban geography unit.
Of course, Bob like everyone had his faults. He could be stubborn and liked to be the “skipper” in every situation. Bob was a fan of doing things the hard way. Why would we use a power washer to clean the bottom of the boat when you could do it by hand? He valued hard work and determination above all.
Bob’s quest for adventure could also be exhausting for the people close to him – stretching the length of a family sail, insisting that frostbite was a fair price to pay for another run on the slopes or another run in the ice boat. But at the end of the day Bob only wanted to get the most out of life for himself and everyone around him. He pushed us, but he also made us better for it. He loved his wife, his family and friends deeply, and wanted nothing but the best for all of us. To Bob everyday was an opportunity for something new and his passions drove us and made us better for the experiences.
The last few years have been Bob’s most difficult challenge yet, as he dealt with the loss of his beloved Lizzie, and numerous health problems, but he never gave up. A few months ago, he was working out with weights at home to get ready for the summer. He had big plans. Bob tried to max out every day to the best of his ability. We will miss him greatly and think of him each time there is a beautiful east wind on the lake. We hope that he and Lizzie are winning races again and enjoying a glass of wine.
A celebration of life will be held at Ashbridges Bay Yacht Club on Tuesday, July 18th 2023, from 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Bob’s remains to be interred at Pine Hill Cemetery at a later date.