Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, Richard Campanella studied at Utah
State University and earned his B.S. in economics in 1988. After several summers
as a wilderness ranger for the U.S. Forest Service, he joined the U.S. Peace
Corps and served in Honduras for the next two years.
Upon completing his service, he moved to Washington, D.C., where he worked as
both an economic analyst and an English teacher. He completed his graduate
studies in geography and mapping sciences at Louisiana State University in Baton
Rouge and, upon receipt of his master's degree, began working at Stennis Space
Center in Mississippi.
In 1993, Mr. Campanella married his wife, Marina Lopez de Campanella. Born in
the village of San Juan Trujano in Oaxaca, Mexico, she studied to be a
schoolteacher in Mexico City until 1989, when she came to the United States.
When she and her husband moved to Mississippi, she worked in childcare, studying
special education at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Biloxi.
Together, the couple moved to New Orleans and wrote New Orleans Then and
Now, which was selected by the New Orleans Times-Picayune
as one of the best local books of 1999.
Mr. Campanella's solo venture, Time and Place in New Orleans: Past
Geographies in the Present Day, explores the influence of New
Orleans' unique geography on the city's growth and development. Named the
best local book of 2002 by the New Orleans Gulf-South Booksellers Association,
this illustrated large-format history book proves that the city is defined by
its location.
Currently the assistant director of environmental analysis at the Center for
Bioenvironmental Research at Tulane and Xavier Universities, Mr. Campanella
resides in New Orleans, Louisiana, with his wife.