BANGOR – Gov. John Baldacci rushed home Thursday to be with his family after hearing that his younger brother, Paul Baldacci, who operated Momma Baldacci’s Italian Restaurant, died sometime late Wednesday or early Thursday.

Paul Baldacci was discovered dead at 79 Palm St., the Bangor residence owned by the governor and his wife, just before 11 a.m. Thursday. He was 48.

No cause of death has been determined, but the Bangor Police Department is treating Baldacci’s passing as a simple unattended death, a police official said.

“There is absolutely nothing suspicious about it,” Lt. Tim Reid, the detective handling the case, said Thursday. “It appears to be a medical issue.”

The police received a medical assistance call from an unidentified male at 10:58 a.m. Thursday, Reid said. The police went to the home and found Baldacci had died, and a medical examiner was called in.

According to a statement released by the governor’s office, Paul Baldacci had not been feeling well recently. The governor said Thursday afternoon that he appreciated the hundreds of e-mails and phone calls that have been coming to his Augusta office.

A handwritten sign taped to the front door of Momma Baldacci’s on Alden Street fluttered in the wind Thursday afternoon. It simply read “Closed.”

The plain white sign kept away customers and the media, as family members, including the governor, and close friends, filtered into the family-owned restaurant to mourn.

Paul Baldacci’s death was announced at Thursday night’s campaign finale for the United Way of Eastern Maine to a shocked crowd of Bangor community leaders. Master of ceremonies Ric Tyler, his voice filled with emotion, read the press announcement from the governor’s office.

For years Paul Baldacci greeted patrons at the restaurant, a well-known meeting place for Bangor Democrats, and was seen regularly at the Hannaford’s supermarket on Broadway.

All who knew Baldacci called him friend, said George McHale, a local broadcast personality known as George Hale, who has known the Baldacci family for years.

“Every Friday night that I didn’t have a game [to announce], my wife and I would eat at the restaurant,” he said. “[Paul] would always pull up a chair and go through all of the politics of the day and the sports.

“He loved to talk politics and sports, especially the Red Sox, and he loved to put the needle in you when needed,” said McHale, who had just had dinner at the restaurant with his wife, Jean, on Friday, unaware of Baldacci’s ill health.

“He seemed terrific” during dinner, McHale said. “I was totally shocked. My wife is absolutely devastated.”

The broadcaster said that after family matriarch Rosemary Baldacci died in February 2002, Jean McHale “adopted” Paul Baldacci.

“My wife considered him like a son,” McHale said. “She’s really upset.”

State Sen. Joe Perry, a Bangor Democrat and a family friend, recalled how Paul Baldacci, following an example set by his father, would open up early Saturdays for his “coffee club crew,” a group of regulars who came in for coffee and chitchat.

“They weren’t going there to see each other. They were going to see Paul,” Perry said. “Everyone loved Paul, and everyone is going to miss him.”

Dan Tremble, a longtime family friend and former Bangor mayor, said he had numerous great memories of Baldacci.

“He was a hell of a guy, and he was very personable, and I don’t think there was one person that he didn’t like … ” he said. “He was always happy to meet people, and he made people feel good.”

Paul Baldacci, just like his parents, loved the restaurant business and recently came up with an idea to refurbish Momma Baldacci’s in order to attract younger customers, a project he was undertaking with Tremble as a partner.

In addition to being the “governor’s biggest fan in Bangor,” Baldacci also was “a pretty good golfer” when he had the chance to get out on the greens, Tremble said.

From all corners of Maine’s close-knit political community, Baldacci’s death drew somber comment.

U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, issued a statement expressing sorrow on behalf of herself and her husband, former Gov. John McKernan, who is a Bangor native.

“Jock and I extend our deepest sympathy to Governor Baldacci during this most difficult time,” Snowe said. “Paul was a well-respected businessman who was a pillar of the Bangor community, and he will be sorely missed.”

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, sounded similar sentiments.

“I am saddened by the passing of Governor Baldacci’s brother Paul. He was a well-respected businessman who will be deeply missed by his friends and loved ones,” Collins said. “The governor’s family and friends will be in my prayers and thoughts during this difficult time.”

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, the Democratic 1st District congressman with whom the governor served in Washington for eight years, said he met Paul Baldacci when he first came to Maine in 1991 and was directed to the center of politics in the city – Momma Baldacci’s.

“He was a real welcoming presence at the restaurant,” Allen said. “He was always entertaining and fun to be with. It’s such a tragic loss for the family.”

Jack Cashman, Maine commissioner of economic and community development, who occasionally has played guitar at the restaurant, also cast Baldacci as upbeat and social.

“He’s always the same. Full of energy. Always in a good mood,” Cashman said.

Paul Baldacci was divorced and leaves two children, Paul Jr., 21, and Elise, 18, as well as seven brothers and sisters including Robert Baldacci Jr., Peter Baldacci, Gerard Baldacci, Rosemary Baldacci, Lisa Baldacci, Joseph Baldacci and Gov. John Baldacci.

Funeral arraignments have yet to be announced.