Robert Campeau

Robert Campeau was a Canadian businessman who rose from humble beginnings to become a real estate mogul and a corporate raider. He was born in Sudbury, Ontario, on August 3, 1923, and dropped out of school after the eighth grade. He worked as a carpenter, a machinist, and a general labourer before starting his own construction company in 1949. He built his first house in Ottawa and gradually expanded his business into a large land development corporation. He developed residential and commercial projects in Ottawa, Toronto, and other cities in Canada and the United States. He also diversified into other industries, such as oil and gas, chemicals, and entertainment. He was known for his lavish lifestyle and his ambitious acquisitions. In 1986, he made the largest foreign takeover in Canadian history when he bought Allied Stores Corp, a U.S. retail giant, for $5 billion. In 1988, he topped that by buying Federated Department Stores Inc, another U.S. retail giant, for $7 billion. However, his debt-fueled expansion soon backfired when the retail industry slumped and the interest rates soared. He was unable to service his massive debt and was forced to sell his assets and declare bankruptcy in 1990. His bankruptcy was one of the largest in history and marked the end of his business career. He spent his later years in France and Switzerland, living in relative obscurity. He was married twice and had four children. He died of pneumonia on June 12, 2017, in Ottawa, at the age of 93.