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Architect Vello Kampman, a frequent visitor to Southampton, died of a heart attack in the late fall of 2008.
Born in Estonia, the first country to fall into Russian hands, he was separated from his parents for many years when he was a young boy and sent to an orphanage in the countryside. According to survivors, this experience made him fiercely independent.
He was one of the few people who had no need for money; instead, he believed in the barter system, a bed in a barn for raking hay, a hot meal for picking grapes. He was often taken in by his friends as part of their family. He knew all of the youth hostels of the world that were located in villas and castles and that is where he stayed.
He lived for simple things, skiing in the Alps, swimming from the beaches of the Hamptons. He was as comfortable with a peasant farmer from the old country as he was with high society and the international elite crowd. With his sleeping bag and tuxedo jacket in his back pack, he would fit into any social situation.
“This hero star, this holy madman could make delicious soups out of fish heads, dandelions or cut lawn grass. I’m sure he could have made a meal from a jellyfish stinger,” said his friend Marta White of Southampton, who reported his death this week.
A great storyteller, he was a diamond in the rough, Ms. White said, noting that “he wanted his life to count for something and it did, from the beautiful homes he designed to the many friendships he made.”
on May 20, 2009