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12 January 2005
Monash Law dean Professor Arie Freiberg has paid tribute to noted Monash alumnus Mr Campbell McComas, AM (BA (Hons) 1977, LLB 1978), who passed away after a brief illness.
The 52 year-old entertainer died on Saturday 8 January, surrounded by his family, after being diagnosed with leukemia just a few weeks ago.
He was a unique speechmaker and impersonator whose performing career began almost 30 years ago while he was still a student at Monash.
Professor Freiberg remembered the first McComas hoax that launched a career in which he created more than1800 characters.
"Campbell leapt into infamy in May 1976 when he impersonated the leading English criminal law scholar, Professor Glanville Williams, before about 450 keen students anxious to hear about the law of rape.
"He was aided and abetted by Professor Louis Waller and fellow students Jack Hammond and Marshall Segan," Professor Freiberg said, adding that it became fashionable to have been duped by the convincing impersonator.
"Campbell stated later that some thousands of people claimed to have been at the event, and even those who had been taught by the real professor were taken in by his hoax. The event is memorialised by the painting he donated which hangs in the Monash Law Library.
"Campbell maintained close contacts with the faculty; he hosted the faculty's 25th Anniversary celebrations and spoke at its 40th Anniversary dinner in August last year. He was always keen to support its activities and advance its interests."
The former lawyer was also a generous philanthropist who donated a significant percentage of his comic earnings to charities.
Last year he was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to the entertainment industry as a performer, and to the community through fund raising.
He is survived by his wife Wendy, his son, Monash law student, Alistair, his father, former broadcaster Geoffrey, his mother Meredith and his brother Malcolm. | 
