Richard Kearney Warren

BANGOR – Richard Kearney Warren, 87, passed away Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, at Westgate Manor. He was born April 13, 1920, in New York, N.Y., the son of the late Anna L. Kearney and George Earle Warren. He graduated from the Pomfret School, Pomfret, Conn., and from Yale University. After graduating from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale, he worked for General Chemical Co. in Edgewater, N.J., and later was a supervisor at the West Virginia Ordnance Works. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1944 and served on the USS Jack W. Wilke, a destroyer escort in a submarine killer group operating in the North Atlantic. He served as the ship’s gunnery officer and was honorably discharged in 1946 with the rank of lieutenant (j.g.). After working at the Hartford Times, Hartford, Conn., Warren moved to Bangor in 1947 and began a long career at the Bangor Daily News. He became publisher in 1955 and served in that capacity until 1984. He retired from the BDN in 1986 but continued to serve as a consultant to the company. In addition to his duties at the Bangor Daily News, Warren was active in weekly newspapers in Maine. He acquired a commercial printing and weekly newspaper group, Northeast Publishing Co. in Aroostook County, for Bangor Publishing Co. in the mid-1960s and later privately acquired the Rockland Courier Gazette Co. and its six weekly newspapers, which he sold in 1999. By the time he was elected publisher and vice president of the Bangor Daily News, Warren had served as president of the Maine Daily Newspaper Association and the New England Newspaper Advertising Bureau and was a member of the Postal Committee of the American Newspaper Publishers Association. Active in local affairs, Warren served on the citizens advisory committee on the reuse of Dow Air Force Base, the advisory board of St. Joseph Hospital, the board of the Bangor Symphony Orchestra and the Good Samaritan Home and was an incorporator of the Phillips-Strickland House. He was active in the Rotary Club. He also served on the boards of the Bangor & Aroostook Railroad and Merrill Bank. He was an invited passenger on Pan American Airways’ inaugural passenger jet flight from New York to Brussels in 1958, where all on board were Pan American’s guests at the Brussels World Fair. He learned to sail at an early age on Long Island Sound and never lost his love of boats and the sea. In quiet irony, he named his home at Sugarloaf “Bermuda 40.” He loved to hunt woodcock and partridge and was particularly proud of his wonderful English setter, Beau, and his friendship with Beau’s first owner and author of a series of books on training hunting dogs, Richard A. Wolters. An excellent golfer, he always enjoyed outings and banter with his longtime friends Dick Files, Pappy Bradford and Dr. Bob Barrett. He would rarely miss his weekly lunch with Father Letourneau, Al Smaha and Roscoe Flagg. Warren was a member of the University Club in New York City; Pelican Bay Club, Naples, Fla.; The Pot & Kettle Club, Bar Harbor, Maine; the Northeast Harbor Club and the Northeast Harbor Fleet, Northeast Harbor, Maine. He is survived by his wife of 37 years, Susan Atwood Warren of Bangor; her children, John C. Thibodeau and his wife, Margaret T., of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Deborah S. Walker and her husband, James S., of Hermon, Maine, Kathleen A. Warren of Portland, Maine, and David M. Warren of Topsham, Maine; a daughter, Carolyn W. Mowers and her companion, Richard C. Emery Jr., of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, and a son, Richard J. Warren and his wife, Elizabeth, of Bangor; seven grandchildren, Patricia S. and Mollie A. Thibodeau, Scott W. Farley and his wife, Jill S., of Cadillac., Mich., Jennifer E. Mowers and her fianc?, Jason M. Williams, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, Courtney W. Adragna and her husband, Thomas M., of Monroe, Conn., George B. Warren of Bangor, and Anne L. Warren and her husband, William Prescott Golding Jr., of Boston, Mass.; and seven great-grandchildren, Brett W., Ben D. and Brian S. Farley, Audrina L. Williams, and Holden T., Grace W. and Carter F. Adragna. He was predeceased by his first wife, Joanne J. Van Namee. His family is grateful to the staff of Westgate Manor who provided him great dignity and compassionate care in his last days. We thank you all. A memorial service will be held in the spring. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Richard K. Warren Scholarship Fund, Department of Journalism, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04473. Arrangements are being handled by Brookings-Smith Funeral Services. www.BrookingsSmith.com