5.15.2007

Wendell Campbell, FAIA

Wendell Campbell was born on April 27, 1927, in East Chicago, Indiana. Three months after he graduated from high school as a National Honor Society scholar, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Campbell eventually received his B.A. in architecture and city planning from the Illinois Institute of Technology, where he was offered a full-tuition scholarship from Commonwealth Edison, in 1957.

He worked as an architect from 1956 until 1966, when he became president of Campbell & Mascai, an architectural and urban planning firm. In 1966, he became the CEO of Wendell Campbell Associates, which since changed its name to Campbell Tiu Campbell to reflect the contributions of partners Domingo Tiu and Campbell's daughter, Susan. Noted projects for the firm include the DuSable Museum of African American History, the McCormick Place expansion, the King Drive Gateway, redevelopment plans for the city of New Orleans and the new Bronzeville Military Academy.

Campbell was a founder and the first president of the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA), established in 1971. He has served on the board of the Illinois Chapter of NOMA, the Cosmopolitan Chamber of Commerce, Mercy Hospital and Medical Center, the Black Ensemble Theater, the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, the Chicago Architectural Assistance Center and the South Side YMCA. He is also a member of the Chicago's Capital Improvement Advisory Council and the city's Committee on Standards and Tests.

Campbell is dedicated to improving the quality of affordable housing in metropolitan centers through the design of "smart homes," housing that brings twenty-first-century technology to the varied needs of today's urban families.

Campbell married June Crusor Campbell in 1954. They live in Chicago and have two daughters, Susan Campbell Smith and Leslie Campbell.