Rudy E. Campbell

Owner of an insurance and investment firm since 1960.

Tempe City Councilman, 1956-1960.

Mayor of Tempe, July 14, 1966 - July 11, 1968.

The son of an Oklahoma sharecropper, his family left Oklahoma during the drought which struck the "dustbowl" region during the Great Depression.

They came to Arizona, c1935, settled in Mesa, and found work as farm laborers. He graduated from Mesa High School in 1941. In 1942, his mother, father, and sister were killed in an automobile accident in Tempe. At age 19, he married Greta, and they assumed responsibility for raising his five year old brother. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, returned to Arizona in 1946, and worked for Valley National Bank in Mesa and Chandler. He started working for the First State Bank (which later became the Arizona Bank) in Tempe in 1954. He served as Tempe City Councilman, 1956-1960, and as Mayor of Tempe, 1966-1968. He was the first mayor elected by popular vote under the new charter government, which was adopted in 1964 (previously, the Council would pick a Mayor from within its ranks). During his term as mayor, the city adopted its first General Plan (1967) to set goals for managing the city's long-term growth. He also served as Chairman of the Tempe committee which was formed to promote changing the name of the college to Arizona State University in 1958. He was appointed to the Arizona Highway Commission, 1968-1973, and was appointed to the Arizona Board of Regents in 1974. He served as President of several organizations, including the Tempe Chamber of Commerce (1957-1958), Tempe Rotary Club, Tempe Toastmasters Club, Chandler Toastmasters Club, and Tempe United Way. He was Chairman of the Board of SamCor, and a member of the Board of the East Valley Partnership.

Rudy Campbell

TH-311

Rudy Campbell oral history interview (ASU)

Smith, Tempe; Arizona Crossroads, p. 174