Robert Nelson Campbell was born on November 27, 1919, in Murray, Utah, being the youngest of the three children of Robert N. and Anne W. (Cheesman) Campbell. Because his father, who worked for the U.S. government, moved around the country, his grammar school and high school education occurred in public schools in Utah, California and Washington, D.C. His college education took place at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City (1937 -38), the Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.(1938-39) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he earned a B.S. degree in chemical engineering in 1942. In the years following graduation from college he worked at various jobs in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Kentucky and from 1943-47 served his country in the U.S. Merchant Marine. It was during this time that he embraced the Roman Catholic faith and was baptized on November 10, 1945. He was led to consider religious life and explored several possibilities, spending a year as a postulant in the Benedictines at Holy Cross Abbey, Canyon City, Colorado (1949 - 5O), however, Dominican life seemed a better fit and he entered the novitiate at St. Peter Martyr Priory, Winona, Minnesota, in August, 1950, and made his first profession there on August 31, 1951. He spent the next three years studying philosophy at the Dominican House of Studies, River Forest, Illinois, earning the Ph.B. and Ph. L. solemn profession on August 31, 1954. After a year in Dubuque he was sent to St. Albert ' s Priory, Oakland, California, to continue his degrees. He was then sent to St. Rose of Lima Priory, Dubuque, Iowa, to begin his theological studies and it was there that he made his theological studies in the Province of the Most Holy Name. Bishop Merlin J. Guilfoyle ordained him a priest at the Cathedral in San Francisco on June 16, 1956, and he completed theology at St. Albert's Priory in Oakland in 1958.

Father Campbell's first assignment was to join the faculty at Fenwick High School, Oak Park, Illinois, where he taught Spanish (1958-59) and then Religion (1959-62). In 1962 the Provincial asked him to serve as an assistant to the pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish, Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a year, after which he was transferred to Chicago where he taught at De Paul University (1963-69). In 1969 he returned to California where he served as an assistant to the pastor of St. Martin of Tours Parish, in Brentwood for a year and then devoted himself to full-time doctoral studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley (1970-74) where he earned a Ph.D. degree in Religion and Society.

For a year he taught at Dominican College, New Orleans, Louisiana, and in 1975 he returned to California where he spent several years dedicated to research and writing. During this time he did pastoral work at Blessed Sacrament Parish (1975-77), St. Joseph

Cathedral (1977-84 and 1986-98), and the University of California Medical Center (1984- 86) - all in San Diego. In 1998 at the age of 79 he began limited service with residence at St. Thomas Aquinas Priory, River Forest, Illinois, however, increasing disability required his transfer to Resurrection Life Center in 2000. His health continued to decline and on July 16, 2002, he suffered a massive stroke which resulted in his death on July 24. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated at St. Pius V Church, Chicago, Illinois, and he was buried in the Dominican Plot at All Saints Cemetery, Des Plaines, Illinois, on July 26, 2002.