Obituary of Robert Louis Campagna

Robert L. Campagna, the Village of East Williston’s building inspector for more than two decades and the architect of its Village Hall, died last Friday of complications from mesothelioma. He was 65.

Campagna, a longtime village resident, was a passionate architect who cared deeply about the village and wanted to help residents with their projects, Mayor David Tanner said.

“He looked at the village as [if] it was a child, took care of it — cared about its future, cared about its well being,” Tanner said.

Campagna was born in Brooklyn and went on to get an architecture degree from the New York Institute of Technology in 1977, his wife, Vivian Campagna, said.

The Campagnas moved to East Williston in 1986. Robert Campagna often drove through the village on his way to work in Port Washington and “thought it was a really nice small village,” Vivian Campagna said.

“He had a love for the village and keeping its small town quality, and he really felt that it was important to maintain the look and the aesthetic of the village,” she said. “He genuinely liked living here and liked the residents.”

In more than 21 years as the village’s part-time building inspector, a job that paid about $30,000 annually, Campagna reviewed all plans for renovations and new construction in East Williston to ensure they complied with building codes, said Marie Hausner, the village clerk who worked with Campagna for more than a decade.

He was also an adviser to the village’s Board of Zoning Appeals, the Planning Board and the Board of Trustees, village Mayor David Tanner said.

“He was just so patient and passionate about the work he did, and wanted to help everybody,” Hausner said.

Campagna also had his own architectural practice for more than 30 years, based in an office next door to Village Hall. His daughter, Elise Campagna, worked with him at the firm, according to its website.

Campagna designed East Williston’s new Village Hall, which opened in October 2010, Hausner said.

“That was his baby,” she said. “He just took a look at this and this was something he had dreamed of, that this could be an iconic building that would make the village very proud.”

Campagna also left his mark on other small projects throughout the village, such as the 9/11 Memorial on the Village Green, which he also designed, Hausner said.

In his village role, Campagna balanced East Williston’s quaint, historic character with the needs of a growing community that wanted to attract new residents, Tanner said.

The village has not yet started the process to replace Campagna, but has other staff members who can handle his duties, Tanner said.

“It’s impossible to replace him,” he said.

Campagna is survived by Vivian Campagna; their three children, Michael, Matthew and Elise; and one grandson, Miles.

The family is scheduled to hold visitations on Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. and Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Weigand Brothers Funeral Home, located at 49 Hillside Ave. in Williston Park.

At 4 p.m. Thursday, family and friends will walk from the funeral home to the East Williston Village Green, accompanied by a New Orleans-style jazz band, as Campagna wished, Vivian Campagna said. They will celebrate his life with a pizza party on the green.