Wayne A. Lawton, a former Bangor Daily News employee who spent his entire working life at the company, died Thursday at his home in Bangor. He was 78.
Lawton retired in 2008 as director of advertising after working nearly 50 years at the newspaper.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
BDN President Todd Benoit recalled Lawton as a kind and caring boss.
“What struck me most about Wayne was his unfailing kindness as he ran a large and successful sales department,” Benoit said Monday. “Employees across the company felt such respect and affection for him because we knew he wanted all of us to do well while supporting the community.”
Lawton went to work at the newspaper in November 1959 when he was 19 as an “office boy” for $40 a week, according to the BDN archives. During his 48 years at the BDN he saw many changes in the local business community and the industry.
Nearly 200 past and present co-workers as well as Bangor-area business and community leaders honored Lawton at a retirement party at the Sea Dog restaurant in Bangor in April 2008.
“His passion for the business back in those days has remained with him during his entire tenure and likely will not go away anytime soon,” Rick Warren, BDN publisher, said at Lawton’s party.
Warren called Lawton’s career “truly remarkable” and said he leaves behind “a legacy that will be long remembered and much appreciated by all who have worked with him over the years.”
In retirement, Lawton devoted time to charity projects in Bangor, including raising money for a new scoreboard at Mansfield Stadium in 2014, just in time for the start of the Senior League World Series. That year marked the 75th year of Little League baseball and its 63rd in Bangor.
Lawton, who grew up in Bangor, played Little League that first year, 1952. He said there was a parade before the first Little League game in Bangor and another before the first all-star game.
“Our first Little League all-star game was in Houlton, and there must have been 2,000 people there,” he said in 2014. “They ringed the field. It was a big deal.”
Lawton’s all-star team won three games before being eliminated, he told the BDN. If it had won one more game, it would have faced Portland for the right to play in the Little League World Series.
There was no Senior League in those days, but Lawton played baseball at Bangor High School.
Follow the Bangor Daily News on Facebook for the latest Maine news.