Lowell mourning the loss of business titan Gilbert Campbell

LOWELL — Gilbert Campbell, a Lowellian who was born in Centralville and became a respected builder, investor and confidante to business and political leaders, died Thursday following a brief illness.

Campbell was 91.

His son Gary Campbell told The Sun Friday that his father had been in relatively good health considering his age, but was unable to bounce back despite the best efforts of the staff at Lowell General Hospital.

“Despite his remarkable success in life, he was incredibly humble,” Campbell told The Sun. “He was such a down-to-earth person who would treat the CEO with the same respect he would treat the janitor.”

Campbell was admitted to Lowell General Hospital earlier this week with discomfort in his chest, his son said. He passed at about 5 p.m. Thursday.

“The staff at Lowell General Hospital was just great,” Campbell said.

Campbell was known for many things and accomplishments across many disciplines, including as a builder, a hockey team owner, and horse farms. But it was his development acumen that perhaps earned him the most accolades.

Throughout his career, he built over 1,500 houses, 3,000 apartments and many commercial buildings. In 1989, Campbell built the hotel and restaurant Stonehedge Inn in Tyngsboro, which was named after his horse farms in Tyngsboro and Florida.

Campbell was a  founding member and past president of the Lowell Home Builders Association and is past president of the Massachusetts Home Builders Association. He has also served as vice president of the National Home Builders Association and was a lifetime director.

In the early 1960s, he was named New England Builder of The Year. During this same period the U.S. State Department chose one of his houses to be exhibited in Moscow for an exposition on American technology.

In 2002 he was elected to the Northeast Builders Hall Of Fame.

That’s not the only Hall of Fame in which Campbell is a member. In 2009, he was elected to the Lowell High School Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.

At the time of his induction, the high school noted his involvement in many community endeavors, including being a founding member of the Lowell Plan, serving as a member of the board of trustees of the former Saints Medical Center and St. John’s Hospital; past president of Vesper Country Club; and serving as chairman of the board of the former Northern Middlesex Chamber of Commerce for several years and a recipient of the Doctor An Wang Award.

Current Lowell Plan member John Chemaly said of Campbell: “He was quite an astute businessman.

“Lowell was fortunate to have benefitted from his many contributions, but more importantly he imparted his generosity to his son Gary, whose chairmanship at the Lowell Plan will aid in the progress of development of the city. My condolences to his wonder family,” added Chemaly, founder and president of Trinity EMS.

Campbell was also a respected horse breeder, and he and his wife Marilyn were well-known and respected in the thoroughbred horse industry. They both raised and raced thoroughbred horses and have a farm in Williston, Fla.

Stonehedge South, the thoroughbred horse farm owned by the Campbells, won the Florida Breeder of the Year Award for the 2016 racing season, with home-bred runners such as Abiding Star, who ran in the Preakness, making a big impression on the racing scene.

The Campbells led all Florida breeders with horses that earned $2.7 million in purse money, with five stakes champions and 91 total trips to the winner’s circle.

In another hall of fame honor, Campbell is a member of the New England Turf Writers Hall of Fame.

Campbell was also a key early investor that brought minor league hockey to the Tsongas Arena in 1986. With two other well-known businessmen, George Behrakis and Elkin McCallum, the trio owned the Lowell Lock Monsters, which played in the American Hockey League. McCallum would later become sole owner of the team.