COLUMBIA, S.C. - Former South Carolina Gov. Carroll Campbell has been admitted to a residential facility to treat Alzheimer's disease, nearly four years after he announced he had been diagnosed with the illness.

The 65-year-old who served two terms as governor and is credited with rebuilding the state's Republican Party has been honored at events since his announcement, but he has remained mostly out of the public spotlight.

"Sadly, it became apparent that, despite the family's best efforts, Gov. Campbell must have around-the-clock professional care at a facility dedicated to that purpose," family friend Bob McAlister told The State. "The family made that decision after many tears and much prayer. It was the most difficult decision imaginable. I do not have the words to convey their pain and anguish in reaching this decision."

Campbell's family declined comment to The State.

Campbell told South Carolinians in a letter in October 2001 that had been diagnosed with early stages of the illness, which is a degenerative disease of the central nervous system. Campbell said in the letter that he would fight it.

He has participated in experimental drug trials and his family has worked to raise awareness. Events have been held in his honor to raise money for research. But his wife Iris Campbell and her two sons, Carroll III and Mike, agreed the move was necessary, said McAlister, who wouldn't name the facility out of privacy concerns.

Campbell was a four-term congressman before he took office in 1986 as South Carolina's second Republican governor since Reconstruction. He easily won re-election in 1990.

After leaving office, Campbell began working for the Washington-based American Council of Life Insurance. But he remained active in South Carolina politics and was instrumental in helping President Bush win South Carolina's 2000 Republican presidential primary, which saved Bush's faltering campaign after a big loss in New Hampshire.

Campbell and his wife have been living at Debordieu, an oceanfront community in Georgetown County near Pawleys Island.

McAlister said the family has asked him to thank the people of South Carolina for their love, support and prayers.

"They ask that they continue," he said.