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1996 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 262
On the death of Edmund D. Campbell.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 26, 1996
Agreed to by the Senate, February 1, 1996

WHEREAS, Edmund D. Campbell of Arlington, a prominent Northern Virginia lawyer and civic leader, died on December 7, 1995; and

WHEREAS, Edmund Campbell was born in 1899 in the house next door to the one occupied by Robert E. Lee while he served as president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington; and

WHEREAS, Edmund Campbell entered Washington and Lee University at the age of 15, graduated as valedictorian of his class, served in the U.S. Army during World War I, and graduated first in the Class of 1922 at Washington and Lee Law School; and

WHEREAS, after settling in Northern Virginia, Edmund Campbell began what was to become an outstanding career in the law and became involved in Arlington civic affairs, serving as chairman of Arlington County's first public utilities commission; and

WHEREAS, from 1940 to 1947, Edmund Campbell served on the Arlington County Board and helped to form Arlingtonians for a Better County, a nonpartisan group that became a powerful political force in Arlington; and

WHEREAS, in the latter half of the 1950s, Edmund Campbell and his wife, Elizabeth Pfohl Campbell, were instrumental in the formation of the Save Our Schools Committee, organized to fight Virginia's policy of "massive resistance" to Supreme Court desegregation decisions; and

WHEREAS, in 1962, Edmund Campbell successfully argued that Northern Virginia localities were illegally underrepresented in the General Assembly under an apportionment system that gave greater representation to rural counties, an argument that ultimately led to the Supreme Court's landmark "one man, one vote" decision that applies to state legislatures across the country; and

WHEREAS, Edmund Campbell's principled positions and legal skill were combined with legendary civility and courtliness, which made him a formidable force on the side of fairness, justice, and decency; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly note with great sadness the passing of an extraordinarily distinguished and accomplished Virginian, Edmund D. Campbell; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Edmund D. Campbell as an expression of the abiding respect in which his memory is held by the members of the General Assembly.