Hugh Brown Campbell Jr., a Mecklenburg County District Court judge who also served a term on the state Court of Appeals, as attorney for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education and as chairman of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party, died Friday. He was 78.
As a Mecklenburg County District Court judge, he was tough on DWI cases but often spoke fondly of the bailiffs and others he worked with, said his son, Hugh Campbell III.
Campbell was a graduate of Davidson College and Harvard School of Law. He was planning a reunion for the Myers Park High School class of 1955 when he became ill, his son said. Campbell died Friday at Mercy Hospital, where he was also born.
Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Mary Irving Carlyle Campbell; three sons, Hugh Campbell III of Mount Airy and his wife Susan, Irving Carlyle Campbell of Toano, Va., and his wife Kim, and Thomas Lenoir Campbell of Charlotte and his wife Leah; six grandchildren; a brother, Wilburn “Bill” Campbell, of Columbia, S.C.; and a sister, Betty Cantey, also of Columbia.
Robertson Funeral and Cremation is handling final services.