Thomas CAMPBELL

1939 - 2024

December 19, 1939 - August 13, 2024 Thomas (Tom) Campbell of Redondo Beach, CA passed away with his loving wife Smoky by his side, on August 13th, 2024, at the age of eighty-four.
Tom is considered by many to be the "grandfather of the benefit concert," virtually inventing the idea of bringing together musicians and activists to create memorable and often historical events that funded organizations working on a wide spectrum of social issues. At the time, this was a relatively novel approach, and he made it his life's work, organizing and producing more than 1,200 cultural, educational, environmental, and service events with musical artists including Linda Ronstadt; John Denver; Bonnie Raitt; Jackson Browne; John Hall; Jesse Colin Young; Crosby, Stills & Nash, and hundreds more. The events raised public awareness of the issues, provided publicity to grassroots organizations working on those issues, and raised millions of dollars for those organizations to assist their environmental and social change work.
Tom was born in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 19, 1939. During World War II, Tom's mother moved the family to California while his father was overseas. The family lived in Sunland and when his father returned, Silver Lake and then settled in Norwalk in 1950.
Tom attended UCLA from 1957 -1961. He worked for Walt Disney during college on weekends, holidays, and summer vacations as a ride operator. Tom became production coordinator in 1962 and then from 1963 – 1964 he worked in the entertainment division and produced shows. After leaving Disney, he went to work at the folk club, the Golden Bear, a legendary music venue in Huntington Beach, California, running the lights and sound. There he met fellow musician, Steve Gillette and they began composing music together, including the song "Darcy Farrow." Several musicians have recorded Tom and Steve's music including John Denver, Linda Ronstadt, and Ian & Sylvia.
Tom left the Golden Bear in 1966 and returned to Disney to become National Promotional Director for their music division, where he remained until 1968. He later moved to Oregon, Colorado, and Florida with his first wife Courtney, where they formed a folk duo. They moved to New Mexico in 1973, where Tom found his calling as an environmental activist and event promoter. He and Courtney wrote the music for, and Tom narrated, "Look What We've Done to This Land," a film about strip mining of Black Mesa and the Four Corners Power Plant in Page, Arizona.
In 1974, Tom staged his first fundraising concert, in support of an Earth First! project to protect New Mexico wilderness, producing a series of concerts in Sante Fe, New Mexico with Linda Ronstadt, Pete Seeger, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Steve Martin, John Denver, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Taj Mahal performing.
Tom then produced a concert series in California for the Sierra Club, supporting the expansion of Redwood Tree National Park. These concerts with artists Jackson Browne, Jesse Colin Young, Maria Muldaur, Danny O'Keefe, Bonnie Raitt, and Linda Ronstadt were the start of decades long relationships working together putting on benefits. Tom fought hard for wildlife, forests, and wild lands, and in particular, California's redwoods, producing scores of concerts and rallies in support of those working to protect them. In 1994, he staged the "Raitt Family Concert for the Forest" in Northern California, with Bonnie Raitt, her legendary father, Broadway actor/singer John Raitt, and other Raitt family members. Another successful benefit for Oregon forest groups, with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and Native American activist/poet John Trudell, ended with the concert crew needing to be escorted out of town after the show by local police, pursued by loggers in pickup trucks revving chainsaws.
In 1976, Tom moved to California to join the Pacific Alliance, which started his long-standing fight against nuclear power. Pacific Alliance co-produced with Musicians United For Safe Energy (MUSE) the famous 1979 series of "No Nukes" concerts, which sold out five straight nights in New York's Madison Square Garden and included a protest rally at Battery Park that drew 250,000 people. MUSE was a group of several artists including Graham Nash, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, and John Hall, along with Harvey Wasserman, Sam Lovejoy, Howard Kohn and David Fenton. A feature film and double live album of the events were later released. Artists performing included Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Jesse Colin Young, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Sweet Honey in the Rock, James Taylor, Carly Simon, The Doobie Brothers, Chaka Khan, Raydio, Nicolette Larson, Poco, Ry Cooder, Peter Tosh, Paul Simon, Gil Scott-Heron, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and John Hall.  
Tom established Avocado Productions in Hermosa Beach, California in 1982 and then later created the non-profit Guacamole Fund in 1994, which is still active today.
Tom, with his good friend and fellow solar advocate Ty Braswell, along with Styx guitarist, James Young, longtime spokesperson for the Solar Lobby and financial backer, helped to create "Solar Genny One," a 6,000-pound solar unit, housed on a 20-four-foot-long trailer, designed, and built by Solarwest Electric of Santa Barbara, California. It was a project they had long dreamed of, and together they coordinated a national tour using Genny to demonstrate that renewable energy was available and practical. Styx was the first band that put Genny to the test by using in the recording studio for their new album. Between 1982 and 1985, Genny visited thirty-one states, including South Carolina where it powered parts of the state capitol; Myrtle Beach for a festival; a Baltimore Orioles baseball game to power the speaker system; bringing power to the Boston Pops for their 4th of July celebration; and to a Diana Ross concert.
Peace Sunday, promoting nuclear disarmament, was produced by Tom in 1982, selling out the Rose Bowl in California. About 100,000 people attended for speeches by the Reverand Jesse Jackson and Ed Asner; performers included Joan Baez, surprise guest Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks, Bette Midler, Dan Fogelberg, Tom Petty, Gil Scott Heron, Gary U.S. Bonds, Jackson Browne, Crosby, Stills & Nash, and Bonnie Raitt. Baez and Dylan played several songs together including "Blowing in the Wind," and Bette Midler sang "The Rose" acapella.
Over the span of a decade, Tom helped the Gloria Steinem organization, Voters For Choice, produce nearly 20 concerts and 20 artist receptions featuring major artists ranging from Bonnie Raitt, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, The Indigo Girls, Melissa Etheridge, Keb' Mo,' Tish Hinojosa, and Sonia Sanchez, to Pearl Jam, Neil Young, and the extraordinary Jessye Norman. Tom first met with Voters For Choice when Bonnie Raitt was interested in supporting the election of pro-choice candidates to counter the push to take away women's reproductive rights. Overall, Tom helped Voters For Choice raise nearly $5 million dollars to support the election of pro-reproductive freedom candidates across the country, up and down the ballot, including the first fully pro-choice president of the United States.
For 10 years, from 1990 to 2000, Avocado Productions and Guacamole Fund produced the Verde Valley Music Festival in Sedona, Arizona, supporting the Native American Scholarship Fund of the Verde Valley School. The annual event was hosted by Jackson Browne, and included an astounding array of musician friends whom Jackson invited to appear: Shawn Colvin, John Trudell & Bad Dog, Ben Harper, Nanci Griffith, Patty Griffin, Bruce Cockburn, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Mary Chapin Carpenter, David Lindley & Wally Ingram, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Lyle Lovett, Trisha Yearwood, Indigo Girls, Michelle Branch, Joel Rafael Band, Indigenous, Kenny Loggins, Graham Nash, Stephen Stills, Ulali and Melissa Etheridge, all performing in the majestic red rocks setting on the school's soccer field.
In addition to benefit concerts, Tom produced some of the largest rallies in American history, which inspired and mobilized people to effect political and social change. For these events, he masterfully orchestrated a mix of songs by different musical acts, statements by leaders and activists, and other artistic expressions - from comedians to poets - that inspired hundreds of thousands at the events and beyond.
With the National Organization for Women, Tom produced The March for Women's Lives in Washington, DC, in 1989. The rally helped ensure reproductive rights was a prominent issue in the upcoming presidential election. The event began on the Ellipse adjacent to the White House, with a stage and performers where the marchers gathered; the march moved past the White House and to another stage on 3rd Street, with the US Capitol as a backdrop. Approximately one million people participated in the march and rally.
In 1990, Tom produced the massive Earth Day rally, again in Washington, DC, commemorating the anniversary of the first EarthDay in 1970. The focus of the rally was building support for amendments to the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts. Congress passed an official resolution authorizing the rally to be held on the steps of the Capitol. Tom Cruise emceed, and over 750,000 citizens attended. Among musicians performing were John Denver, 10,000 Maniacs, Bruce Hornsby and The Range, The Indigo Girls, Branford Marsalis, and many others.
Tom returned to Washington, DC, for the 2000 Earth Day rally, creating yet another amazing event, this one powered by alternative energy, with a generator powered by used cooking oil. The rally was emceed by Leonardo DiCaprio, and included speeches by many, highlighted by Vice President Al Gore. Musical performances included The Indigo Girls, Third Eye Blind, James Taylor, Carole King, Indigenous, Keb' Mo', Sweet Honey in the Rock, Clint Black, Congregation, Urban Nation Choir, Peter, Paul & Mary and many more.
Tom received the Best of the West 2018 Lifetime Achievement in Community Service Award for his work with the Guacamole Fund. He also received the Arthur M. Sohcot Award in 2001 at the California Music Awards; both awards were presented by his dear friend and fellow activist, Jackson Browne. In 1992, Tom and Avocado Productions were honored with a Congressional Record by the One Hundred and Second Congress for their outstanding work in Washington, D.C.
Tom's records and papers, along with hundreds of pieces of concert memorabilia, have recently been moved to the Guacamole fund /Tom Campbell Archives, in the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History at the University of Texas - Austin, where they will be preserved for future generations of activists to learn from and be inspired by.
Tom, "The Great Freckled Thunderbolt" (a nickname acquired at Disney that he loved), will be missed by all who knew and loved him. He is survived by his loving wife, Smoky Dagan; his son, Grady Campbell; and grandsons Cosmo and Django. He was preceded in death by his former wife, Margaret Holmes. He leaves behind former wives, Courtney Campbell and Janis Monaco Clark, her children, Calvin Turnbull and Alana McClellan; Cousin Carol Alexandra (Sam Riordan) and numerous nieces and nephews; many dear friends whom he considered his Guacamole Fund Family; the hundreds of musicians and artists who joined in his work throughout the years; and the thousands of activists who inspired Tom to assist them with their efforts to make a better world.
There will be a Celebration of Life at a later time. To honor his memory, some of Tom's favorite charities are listed on The Guacamole Fund website at www.guacfund.org. Contact: info@guacfund.org.