Robert Campeau
| Robert Campeau | |
|---|---|
| Born |
August 3, 1923 Chelmsford, Ontario, Canada |
| Occupation | financier and real estate developer |
| Known for | development of Kanata and Ottawa; largest retailing bankruptcy in U.S. history |
Robert Campeau (born on August 3, 1923) is a Canadian financier and real estate developer, who engineered the largest retailing bankruptcy at the time in U.S. history. Starting from a single house constructed in Ottawa, Canada, Campeau built a large land development corporation around the development of the suburb of Kanata. Expansion in the U.S. led Campeau to diversify into the ownership of retail department stores to anchor commercial development projects. The Campeau Corporation used leveraged buyouts to buy the department stores and went bankrupt when it could not maintain the debt payments.
Born in Chelmsford, Ontario, Campeau's formal education ended in grade eight, at the age of 14. He talked himself into jobs at Inco as a general labourer, carpenter and machinist. In 1949, he entered the residential end of the construction business. His first project was a single home constructed in partnership with his cousin in Ottawa, Ontario.
In Ottawa, Campeau was able to construct both office complexes and residential subdivisions to accommodate Canada's rapidly expanding civil service. Campeau frequently found himself at odds with Ottawa mayor Charlotte Whitton over planning decisions. Whitton was quoted as saying, "when I look at his (Campeau's) houses, I think perhaps nuclear bombardment might not be such a terrible thing after all." His Campeau Corporation had two main rivals in the residential housing market: Assaly Construction Limited and Minto Developments Inc., the latter owned by the family of future Ottawa mayor Lorry Greenberg. Despite opposition from Whitton, Campeau developed a reputation as a high-quality builder and became the most successful in the city. A street is named after him in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, much of which he developed.
...
Wikipedia