PAT FARNSWORTH

Perhaps you walked into Pat’s Pizza as a nervous freshman at the University of Maine hoping to find a filling, affordable meal. You found that and found yourself suddenly connected to generations of UMaine students who went looking a good meal and found so much more. You went back again and again; you went on your own or with buddies or a date. You took your parents there. Crammed for a test there or celebrated another successful hockey season. You quickly lost the nervousness of freshman year and became a confident student, then an alum, but you kept going back because while you changed, Pat’s didn’t – always welcoming, always a gathering spot, a happy place of permanence in an often transient town.

Pat Farnsworth died Thursday at age 93 after spending a lifetime building the little ice-cream parlor he purchased in 1931 into a 13-franchise chain of restaurants. Pat’s is a family business, and the family will continue to run it. But to see Mr. Farnsworth behind the counter, in his red suspenders and with cigar in hand, was a treat because he represented, he was part of, the history of Orono and the University of Maine. Not just his family and many friends will miss him, but hundreds and hundreds he did not know but upon whom he made a favorable impression nonetheless.

Mr. Farnsworth was known for his long hours of work and his concern for the proper development of Orono. His restaurant was inextricably tied to the university and, like other area restaurants, UMaine students can use their campus dining funds to have Pat’s pizza delivered to their on-campus residence. More than this official connection, however, was the unofficial one of Pat’s as a second home for many, with Mr. Farnsworth himself, remembers Donna Thornton of the UMaine Alumni Association, regarded as a grandfather. Ms. Thornton, class of ’78, recalled Mr. Farnsworth’s many conversations with students as he made pizzas, cigar in his mouth and ashes falling – “That’s why they tasted so good,” she joked of the ashes.

Mr. Farnsworth’s death this week brought condolences from all over the state. As Sen. Susan Collins observed, “Pat Farnsworth was such an engaging fixture for so many years – he truly will be missed by all of us who knew that a trip to Orono wasn’t complete without a visit to Pat’s. This loss will be deeply felt by the community and by anyone who ever knew him.”