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  • Alumni Spotlight

  • A Bob Of All Trades, by Guest Writer Jaret Bozigian

Photo caption: Bob and his Leader Dog “Caesar”

  • Robert Campbell is not only a college professor and the Blinded Veterans Association’s Missouri chapter president - he is also a friend; a friend to his Leader Dog “Caesar.”

  • Robert has been an adjunct professor at Baker University, a small university in Kansas, since 1991. During this period he has fought, and won, a battle with leukemia and lost his sight. Through it all, he kept teaching. His Leader Dog “Caesar” is instrumental in helping him navigate campus. “Caesar helps me negotiate difficult areas that have steps and sidewalks on hills,” says Robert with a voice filled with pride. “The students love Caesar. I take him out of harness in the classroom during break time because the students simply cannot resist reaching down and petting him.”

  • Though Caesar does a good job finding the classroom, Robert needed to learn to trust him as a guide. One time Robert thought Caesar was trying to pass the door to his classroom and redirected Caesar into the room he thought was the right one. But Robert was wrong and found himself in the middle of another teacher’s lecture. From then on, he has always trusted Caesar’s instinct. “As I walked down the hall to the right room, I thought I could hear Caesar laughing,” Robert laughed. “I am sure he was smiling.”

  • Robert is also heavily involved in the Blinded Veterans Association (BVA). He moved from secretary to treasurer then president for the Missouri Regional Chapter. He is also on the BVA National Board of Directors. Through his BVA involvement, Robert has attended sessions with the joint house and senate veteran’s affairs committees and participated in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington cemetery.

  • With all that he has given the BVA, they have given right back to him. Robert credits his BVA involvement with learning about and ending up at Leader Dog. Leader Dog, in turn, gave him Caesar.

  • Caesar is a golden retriever/labrador mix who bears a striking resemblance to Marley from the movie “Marley and Me.” Robert found out about the resemblance when he went to see the movie. “All the kids in the theatre were saying ‘Look Mom, there’s Marley!’” Robert said.

  • “Caesar really is wonderful. And I was a guy who was totally in love with my white cane, I used to call it my one-legged dog,” Robert said. “But a four-legged dog is definitely better than a one-legged dog.”

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