Ernest W. Campbell, 94, Former Seattle Schools Superintendent

Ernest W. Campbell was trained as a lawyer but never practiced law.

His legal training helped explain why the superintendent of the Seattle Public Schools from 1956 to 1965 had a penchant for the explicit.

"I told him one time that he talked like a lawyer," recalled former School Board member Edward Palmason. "He was very precise, but I remember him always as a very kind man and a gentle man."

Mr. Campbell died March 14 in a Portland retirement home. He was 94.

While he was a "gentleman of the old school," he was not afraid to challenge convention.

"Early on, when it wasn't so popular to do so, he took a stand against racism," Palmason said.

The long road to desegregated schools began under Mr. Campbell with the district's first voluntary racial-transfer program in 1963.

When he retired in 1965 after more than 40 years as an educator, nine of those as head of the state's largest school district, the National Conference of Christians and Jews presented him with its "Distinguished Merit Citation" and the Seattle-King County Municipal League named him an "Outstanding Public Official."

It was during his tenure that city schools reached their peak, with nearly 100,000 students in 1962.

The man friends and associates knew as "Ernie," rose from humble beginnings.

His family moved to Seattle from Fayetteville, Ark., the year he was born. When he was 3, his father, Samuel Craig, died. Three years later his mother died, too, leaving five orphaned children.

The boy was adopted by a West Seattle pioneer, W.T. Campbell, and his wife, who lived on 14 acres above Alki Point.

Both his adoptive parents were educators - W.T. Campbell, who later became a West Seattle builder and City Council member, was the first principal of West Seattle High School. His wife taught elementary school.

Young Campbell graduated from West Seattle High School in 1914 when he was 15 and was the youngest Seattle graduate to enroll in the University of Washington.

After earning a bachelor's degree in 1918, he was training as an officer in the Army when the Armistice ended World War I. He earned a UW law degree in 1922.

His daughter, Joan Waldo of Seattle, said that her father's desire to work with young people stemmed partly from working in YMCA programs when he was in school, including summers at Camp Orkila, first as a camper and then as a counselor. He was secretary of the Seattle YMCA's younger men's division between 1922 and 1924.

Married in 1924 to Marjorie Pierrot, a Seattle high-school teacher, he and his bride went to Goldendale in Klickitat County, where he was hired as the high-school principal and also taught English, coached track and helped with football and basketball. He attended the 40th, 50th and 60th reunions of Goldendale High School's Class of 1925.

The next year he was named principal of Renton Junior-Senior High School. Two years later he was appointed superintendent of Renton School District.

In 1936 Seattle Supt. Worth McClure took on Mr. Campbell as his administrative assistant. He rose to be assistant superintendent first of elementary, special and junior-high schools in 1940 and of high schools, vocational schools and adult education in 1945. He was elevated to superintendent in 1956.

After retiring, he served three years as acting director of the UW's Bureau of School Services and a year as a financial-aid consultant with Seattle Central Community College.

In addition to other honors, he was a former president of the Klickitat, King County and Washington Education Associations. He also received a "Distinguished Achievement Award" from the American Legion and an honorary doctorate from Seattle Pacific University.

In 1969-70 the Seattle School Board asked him to be chairman of its annual school levy citizens committee.

A loyal UW grad, he chaired both the 50th and 60th reunions of the UW Class of 1918.

In 1970 the Campbells moved to Bainbridge Island where he lived until his first wife's death in 1978. When he was 80, he married Carol Wakefield Orne, whom he had known from his UW student days. They resided in Southern California until 1982 when they moved to Portland. She died two years ago.

Philip Swain, another former Seattle School Board member, said Mr. Campbell never referred to students as kids.

"Ernie had a deep personal commitment to young people," Swain said.

Forbes Bottomly, who succeeded Mr. Campbell as Seattle's superintendent, recalled his patience in filling him in on the problems and complexities of the large school district.

Bottomly said he would always remember him as one of the last of the "school masters."

Besides his daughter, Joan Waldo, he is survived by a son, Craig Campbell, of Bainbridge Island; seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Saturday in the University Methodist Temple, 1415 N.E. 43rd St.

The family suggests remembrances to the Seattle Public Schools Scholarship Fund, the Seattle YMCA Camp Orkila Fund, the University United Methodist Temple Memorial Fund or to a favorite charity.