Baldacci matriarch dies after heart attack at 74 Bangor mother of 8 proud of family

BANGOR – If you wanted to run for office as a Democrat in this city, a visit to Momma Baldacci’s was your first stop.

Rosemary Baldacci, the restaurant’s owner and matriarch of the Democratic dynasty that includes U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, died Monday evening at a local hospital after suffering a heart attack. She was 74.

“There’s some people that build monuments to themselves. To my mother, her legacy was her eight children,” an emotional John Baldacci said Tuesday evening. “She instilled in all of us the values of integrity and humility and treating everyone the way we wanted to be treated.”

While the mother of eight stayed behind the scenes, her late husband and several of her children had more than dabbled in politics, with John, a four-term congressman, now the consensus front-runner in the race to replace outgoing Gov. Angus King.

But while politics might be the family’s passion, Rosemary Baldacci’s passion was family, according to all who knew her.

“She was a wonderful mother and very proud of her kids,” said former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, who recalled summer days he and his brothers spent with the Baldaccis at the family’s camp on Hermon Pond. “They were her life’s work.”

Rosemary Baldacci is survived by her children Robert Jr.; Peter and his wife, Debora; John and his wife, Karen; Gerard, Paul, Rosemary, Lisa; Joseph and his wife, Elizabeth; and eight grandchildren. Also remembered is her special companion, her springer spaniel, Murphy Brown, named for the TV character.

Mitchell, Rosemary Baldacci’s cousin, was one of several Maine dignitaries to express their sorrow on the sudden death of the well-known restaurateur whose family business provided a forum for political discourse with a healthy dose of Italian food.

While many of the country’s political elite have eaten the spaghetti at the small Alden Street restaurant, the politics at Momma Baldacci’s was almost always local. And the straight-talking owner was not known to mince words at the traditional morning coffees – even with the children of whom she was so proud.

“She could sit down with any of the kids, and if she disagreed with them, she’d tell them so without sugarcoating it,” said longtime friend Maine Rep. Pat Blanchette, D-Bangor, who had known Rosemary Baldacci for about 20 years. “But she did it with love, and they listened to her, and that made them stronger.”

With their mother’s guidance and that of their father, Robert Baldacci – who died in 1993 after 43 years of marriage to Rosemary, the children also have looked to make their marks on their native Bangor.

Four have earned law degrees. Three have followed in their father’s footsteps to the Bangor City Council, with the youngest son, Joseph, now serving his second term. Another son, Peter, is a Penobscot County commissioner.

With his parents’ support, John moved on to the Maine Senate and later the U.S. House of Representatives the year after his father’s death.

Her daughter, also named Rosemary, runs Momma B’s Kitchen on Hammond Street.

The Baldacci legacy began in 1933, when Robert Baldacci’s stepfather, Vincent Carparelli, founded the Baltimore restaurant in the shadow of the Joshua Chamberlain Bridge. Robert Baldacci and his brother Vasco ran the restaurant until 1972, when a larger Baldacci’s Restaurant was built.

After filing for bankruptcy, Robert and Rosemary Baldacci bounced back and worked hard to open Momma Baldacci’s in 1975, returning to the small, family atmosphere that made the Baltimore famous and a popular hotbed for political discussion. Restaurant regulars include best-selling author Stephen King.

And from her familiar spot behind the cash register, Rosemary Baldacci herself presided over the discussion there until shortly before her death.

While the Baldaccis have always been devoted to the Democratic Party, the family’s matriarch was not one to ask her guests their party leanings, and expected the same of her children.

Indeed, the Bangor clan’s local ties are often credited with its popularity across political party lines.

“She has been a huge part of my life for many years and of the larger Maine community,” said former Secretary of Defense William Cohen, a Republican who once delivered rolls to the Baltimore for his father. “This is a loss for her family, for Bangor and for Maine.”

A funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at St. John’s Catholic Church on York Street in Bangor.

Gifts to remember Rosemary Baldacci may be sent to: The Robert and Rosemary Baldacci Memorial Scholarship Fund c/o University of Maine Foundation, P.O. Box 2220, Bangor, Maine 04402-2220. Checks should be made payable to The University of Maine Foundation.

Gifts also may be sent to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, P.O. Box 50, Memphis, TN 38101.