ELLSWORTH – Casper G. Sargent Jr., who founded a well-known and well-respected real estate company in Ellsworth and was active in the community for decades, died unexpectedly Sunday after suffering injuries related to a fall. He was 78.

Sargent started Sargent Real Estate on High Street in the early 1970s and it remains a family-owned business today with his son, Daniel W. Sargent, serving as company president. Sargent’s two daughters, Teresa Sargent Smith and Janice Sargent Mitchell, also are employed as real estate brokers.

“I have relationships with certain families in this community where you almost feel like you’re related, and the Sargents are one of them,” Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich said Monday. “I just saw [Casper] last week when I visited the office. He worked right up to the end. That was just his work ethic.”

After owning and operating a coal and oil business in the 1960s, Sargent started his real estate firm during Ellsworth’s first period of growth and saw it thrive throughout the many changes the city has seen.

“He just added so much to the community and even though he was generationally older as a businessman, he never got old in his thinking,” Povich said.

Aside from his status in Ellsworth’s business community, Sargent was a community leader as well. He served for many years on various boards and committees throughout the city, including the Ellsworth school committee.

“He was dedicated to doing whatever he could to make Ellsworth the type of place you would be pleased and proud to live in,” said Gary Fortier, a self-employed electrician and city councilor. “If we had a thousand of him in Ellsworth, or just two of him for that matter.”

Kiki Katsiaficas-Sawyer, who works for Katsiaficas Agencies, a competing real estate company in Ellsworth, said Sargent was known for his laid-back style.

“He would never try to pressure-sell to anybody. He was someone in our profession that was a true real estate professional,” she said, adding that her grandfather was Sargent’s uncle.

Katsiaficas-Sawyer, also a member of the Ellsworth school committee, said Sargent was particularly passionate about education.

“We would always talk about school issues. He never gave that up,” she said.

Sargent was known as an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman. He leaves behind his six children and 13 grandchildren.

Visiting hours will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, April 3, at Jordan-Fernald Funeral Home on Franklin Street.

A celebration of his life will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, April 4, at St. Joseph Catholic Church on Main Street. A reception will be held immediately afterward at the Father Kenny Center adjacent to the church.