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Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 8, 1926, he served in the Scottish Highland Regiment, and was a veteran who saw duty in Palestine during World War II. After the war, he also worked as a coal miner in Stoke on Trent, England, for many years. After coming to the U.S., he had been employed by St. Johnsbury Trucking in New England.
After his retirement, he became a constant fixture at Grace Limousine, a company founded by his son, Ian, and later taken over by grandson, Michael. There, he put in a staggering seven-day work week, assisting with Grace’s day-to-day facility operations.
At age 89, Campbell took part in the #22KILL online campaign to raise awareness of veteran suicide. He was captured on film performing 22 push-ups for the promotion, which was seen by roughly 40,000 Facebook viewers.
Campbell was devoted to his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as well as Grace Limousine, where he managed the facility six days a week right up until his death. He is survived by daughters-in-law, Annie Campbell-St. Jean and Holly Barros; grandchildren Andrea Collins, Geoff Campbell, Heather Campbell, Michael Campbell, Shaunna Campbell, Collin Campbell, Isaac Campbell, Joseph Campbell, and Vanessa Barros; and several great-grandchildren.
“Papa John was one of a kind, and the most generous, grateful person you could ever hope to meet,” said grandson Michael Campbell, current owner of Grace. “He will be deeply missed by his Grace family, and by the many industry friends who have also come to know and love him. The Campbell family would like to extend our gratitude to all our friends and colleagues who have reached out with words and gifts of condolence, and who took the time to attend his service. We appreciate it more than you know.”
Chauffeur Driven would like to extend their deepest sympathies to the Campbell family and the employees at Grace Limousine.
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HALCA President Ismail Abed of LaBresse Limousine said that he knew the event would be influenced by the lingering effects of the late-summer ravages of Hurricane Harvey, so the association went the extra mile to buy more than 50 gifts—as well as accept a few donated items—to ensure that nearly half of all party-goers walked away with some extra goodies.
“We had a lot of presents—and expensive ones, too, like a case of wine and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label that I wished I could have won,” Abed said with a laugh. “HALCA bought most of it, with two or three items donated by board members and vendors. We wanted to make sure lots of members got something.”
Among the donated items was a pass to the 2018 Chauffeur Driven Executive Retreat in San Diego, which was won by Richard Mishriky of CTI Transportation.
The holiday party is HALCA’s biggest event of the year, and the association goes all out accordingly. The evening included a buffet dinner, desserts, various casino tables that offered some generous winnings, the ever-popular photo booth where attendees snapped more than 1,000 photos in just a few hours, a belly dancer, a DJ, and dancing.
“There was something for everyone, and we made sure that everybody left happy,” Abed said. “It was an awesome event, and everybody was in a great mood. Nobody forgot what happened during Harvey and what is happening in our industry, but we’re all fighters. This was a night to focus on the good, and everyone was in good spirits and had a great time together.”
A fundraising component is always included in HALCA’s festive end-of-the-year soirees. While this year’s final total is still being tabulated, Abed estimates that the evening raised at least $4,000 for the association—plus a donation from Jeff Brodsly of Chosen Payments.
Abed is already planning next year’s holiday party, and the association is currently planning its 2018 meeting schedule.
Visit houstonlimos.info for more information.
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“We’re excited about the opportunity to help Professional Travel Service serve their customers on a global scale,” said John F. Rizzo, president and chief operating officer, Deem. “With advanced features like pre-trip approval, proactive check-in and linked calendar, travel managers and travelers can focus on their job and not on the time-consuming admin of planning and booking a trip.”
“For us to compete and grow in the current market, we need exceptional partners,” said Roger Lee, president, Professional Travel Service. “Our customers want a solution that is dynamic and seamless, with features and functionality that help them control their spend and help travelers get where they’re going with the least amount of fuss. Deem has that functionality.”
Professional Travel Service is a global full-service travel management company based in Minneapolis.
Under the agreement, Professional Travel Service will resell Deem’s Work Fource travel booking and management tools for business travelers and corporate travel managers, as well as Deem’s Ground Work car service booking tool and Intelligent Attach for hotel conversion.
“Deem Work Fource is the best technology in the market, and we are excited about applying Intelligent Attach to our itineraries,” said Diane Achterkirch, director of sales, Professional Travel Service. “When you pair that with Deem’s exceptional customer support, it’s the ideal solution for our customers and their travelers.”
“Deem’s Intelligent Attach makes life easier for travelers, and creates value for our TMC partners and the companies they serve,” said Tony D’Astolfo, chief commercial officer, Deem. “It increases hotel attach rates, ensures better duty of care and helps corporations control their overall costs.”
Fifty thousand customers use Deem-powered booking tools, such as Work Fource to book and manage end-to-end travel itineraries on desktop and mobile. With advanced Intelligent Attach technology, the software automatically recommends hotel and car service options matched to travelers’ preferences, behavior and corporate policies.
“Professional Travel Service has been a great partner,” said Mike Daly, Vice President, Travel and Car Service, Deem. “They understand that investing in new technologies, like Intelligent Attach takes effort, but ultimately pays off in the long run.”
Visit deem.com or professionaltravelservice.com for more information.
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