Carroll Campbell Jr., a popular and savvy governor who helped make the Republican Party a powerful force in South Carolina and changed the face of state government while recruiting big-name industries, died yesterday. He was 65, and had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease four years ago.

Campbell was a four-term congressman before he took office in 1987 as South Carolina’s second Republican governor since Reconstruction. He easily won re-election in 1990 and might have won again four years later, but term limits kept him from running.

Campbell championed an overhaul of state government and, in 1993, signed legislation that abolished many agencies’ governing boards and gave the governor power to appoint some department heads.

Legislators relinquished that power reluctantly and only after several years of pressure from the governor.

Campbell’s two terms, however, may be more remembered for the former real estate developer’s focus on economic development, capped by luring German automaker BMW to build its first North American manufacturing plant in South Carolina. Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. and Fuji Photo Film Co. also were companies he helped recruit.

After leaving office, Campbell headed the Washington-based American Council of Life Insurance. He remained active in politics and was instrumental in helping Texas Governor George W. Bush win South Carolina’s 2000 Republican presidential primary, which saved Mr. Bush’s faltering campaign after a loss in New Hampshire.

Campbell’s political organization also provided a crucial South Carolina win for Mr. Bush’s father in 1988.

Campbell’s political career began when he won a state House seat from Greenville County in 1970. In 1974, after losing a bid to become lieutenant governor, he went to work for GOP Governor James Edwards.

Two years later, Campbell won a state Senate seat. In 1978, he successfully ran for the U.S. House against Democrat Max Heller. That race featured a third-party candidate who raised Heller’s Jewish faith as an issue, questioning whether voters in the Bible Belt supported someone who did not believe in Jesus.

Campbell denied any role in getting the third-party candidate to run, but the allegations came back to frustrate him when he was considered as a possible contender for vice president in the late 1990s.

In 1986, Campbell turned his sights to the governor’s office, beating Democrat Mike Daniel by just 23,000 votes out of more than 745,000 cast. Four years later, Campbell was re-elected with 65% of the vote.

Politically, Campbell “proved a Republican could be elected governor and, even though the Legislature was predominantly Democrat, that he could function effectively and constructively,” said Arthur Ravenel, a former South Carolina Republican member of the House of Representatives.

After Campbell left office, whenever Republicans started talking about someone to succeed U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond, Campbell’s name came up. There were problems then, too.

In 1999, Campbell tried to board a flight with an unloaded pistol in his carry-on luggage. He was detained for several hours, but there were no charges.

The next year, Campbell supported the attempted ouster of Henry McMaster as state party chairman, but was rebuffed at the GOP convention.

Campbell told South Carolinians in a letter in October 2001 that he had been diagnosed with early stages of Alzheimer’s, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. He participated in experimental drug trials, and his family worked to raise awareness.

Campbell married Iris Faye Rhodes when the two were in their late teens. The couple had two sons; the younger son, Mike, is currently running for lieutenant governor.