Wendi Campbell, long-time food bank CEO, has died

Wendi Campbell, former CEO of the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, in a photo from the Henry Walser Funeral Home’s website.

Wendi Campbell, who worked with the Food Bank of Waterloo Region for more than two decades, died on Monday, Jan. 15.

In an obituary, posted on the Henry Walser Funeral Home’s website, her family said the 53-year-old’s last wish was to donate her brain to the Sheila Singh Lab at McMaster University to support Glioblastoma research.

Campbell started working at the food bank in 1999 and served as CEO for the last 15 years.

Her family said she leaves behind an “impactful legacy.”

“Wendi's vision to make our community a better place was central to everything she did,” the obituary read.

It added: “She was always learning, growing, and finding ways to make herself and others better.”
A visitation will be held at the funeral home on Jan. 28, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m.

A celebration of life, which the family calls “The Party”, will take place at Federation Hall at the University of Waterloo on March 10, starting at 1 p.m. They added that, as Campbell requested, visitors should wear jeans, blazers and fabulous shoes instead of the colour black.

Her family asked that donations in her name be made to the Food Bank of Waterloo Region, the House of Friendship and St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation and the Kitchener Rangers Community Fund.