MEET AL

• Married to Debra, a self-taught painter, the Campbells, who were co-owners and publishers of the Leelanau Enterprise, reside near the village of Lake Leelanau.

• Father of Cody, a St. Mary School and Northwestern Michigan College graduate who is now an apprentice through the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Traverse City.

• Member, West Side Community Church.

• Part-time farmer, Leland Township.

• Journalist who failed retirement and continues to write for statewide outdoors magazines and the Leelanau Enterprise.

• Fly-fisherman who enjoys being fooled by trout and bird hunter still surprised by grouse flights.

Favorite Bible verse:

“For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”

— Matthew 16:26

• Owner and publisher of the Holly Herald Advertiser (1984-1997) and Leelanau Enterprise.

(1997-2018).

• Director, Michigan Press Association (MPA).

• Director, Passing Along the Heritage (PATH) Foundation, which provides outdoor opportunities to young people and people with disabilities throughout Michigan.

• Teams with his son, Cody, through The Lighthouse Neurological Rehabilitation Center, a faith-based care facility near Traverse City, to provide deer hunts for people with disabilities through adaptive shooting equipment in Leelanau orchards.

• Chair, Leelanau County Kids Fishing Day.

• Recipient, Very Cherry Award, for coverage of and promotion of the tart and sweet cherry industry.

• Elementary, middle school, Little League and Pop Warner coach for youth in basketball, football and baseball.

• Facilitator, Leelanau County Prospectors Scholarship Program. The program has provided $170,000 in scholarships through the years to county graduates and residents.

• Secretary, Holly Village Planning Commission.

• Graduate with honors, Michigan State University College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

• Recipient of James Hall Awards for two straight years from the Michigan Outdoor Writers Association for coverage of Legends of Michigan Conservation series as published in Michigan Out-of-Doors magazine.

• Recipient of numerous better newspaper awards from the National Newspaper Association and MPA. In most recent MPA contest, Al received two first-place awards, four second-place awards and three third-place awards for his community journalism.

Service to community. That has been a defining part of the life of Alan Campbell.

Al was raised in Holly, Mich., and graduated with honors from the Michigan State College of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the low point of a crippling recession.

With few job prospects available in downstate Michigan and no desire to live there, he looked north and found Leelanau County.

Al recalls his first days on the job in 1980 as a cub reporter for the Leelanau Enterprise. The newspaper was owned by an aggressive editor named Dick Kerr who held politicians in the county, Lansing and Washington to the highest standards for elected office.

“I was waiting for a press release from our congressman on a policy with Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, and Dick said, ‘What are you waiting for, call him up.’ So I did. Then I covered a township meeting and he pressed me about the clerk’s salary increase, and I was embarrassed to tell him I never asked for the amount.

“I was never shy around government again.”

Eventually, Mr. Kerr sold the Enterprise to Al on a land contract. Al and his wife, Debra, did not have funds to buy the newspaper on their own.

To Al, community service has meant taking seriously the role of community journalism to watchdog governments — a vital component of American values. He and his wife, Debra, owned and were co-publishers of the Leelanau Enterprise from 1997-2018, during which time a string of awards naming the Enterprise as Michigan’s “newspaper of the year” began.

“I believe most politicians, especially local elected officials, mean to do the right things in office but lack the knowledge or the will to fight through the trappings of bureaucracy and complacency. If elected, I will question the expending of public funds that is unjustified or that expands the role of county government. I will be unafraid to vote “no” when warranted,” Al said.

As editor of the Enterprise, Al encouraged public input in editorial decisions, inviting voices from all backgrounds to attend editorial meetings. His award-winning editorials carried themes of fiscal conservatism while promoting the good things that make up the fabric of the Leelanau community.