These people either lived in, spent time in, or had a substantial impact in Maine -- and all died in 2018. As always, any such 'notable deaths' list will be incomplete, so forgive me if I left out anyone who deserves mention.
Rev. Robert Bryan, along with Marshall Dodge, formed the comedy duo "Bert & I" in the late 1950s, which helped to introduce Maine accents and the state's distinctly dry humor to a nationwide audience. Later in life, he became an Episcopal priest and founded the Quebec Labrador Foundation. He died Dec. 12 in Sherbrooke, Quebec, at the age of 87.
George H.W. Bush was the 41st president of the United States. He spent every summer for much of his life at his family's oceanfront compound in Kennebunkport. He died at the end of November at the age of 94.
Eugene Cole was not that well known, but his death gripped the state when he became the first law-enforcement officer in Maine in nearly 30 years to be shot and killed in the line of duty. His death on April 25 ignited a large-scale manhunt for his alleged killer, who police caught four days later as he was trying to hide in the woods a few miles away from where Cole was shot. He was 61 years old.
Donald Collins, a longtime state politician and father of U.S. Senator Susan Collins, died in March at the ago of 92.
Chris Cousins was a newspaper reporter who became best known for covering politics for the Bangor Daily News. He began his career in 1999 at the Norway Advertiser Democrat, later worked at The Times Record and then ran the State House News Service in Augusta. From 2006 to 2007, he was the Donald W. Reynolds Fellow for Community Journalism at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. He was 42 when he died in August of a heart attack.
Milton Dysart, a co-founder of Dysart's Truck Stop in Hermon, died in May at the age of 84.
John Ford, Sr. was a former Maine game warden and Waldo County sheriff who chronicled humorous episodes from his law enforcement career in a newspaper column and multiple books. He also was criticized in October 2016 for saying at a Trump campaign rally in Bangor that he was with racists, xenophobes, homophobes, and islamophobes "all the way." He was 71 when he died in November.
Chuck Foster was a longtime Bangor-area radio disc jockey who, according to famous author Stephen King, had "the perfect DJ voice." He died in August at the age of 64.
Al Hawkes learned bluegrass music as a teenager in the 1940s while growing up in Westbrook, and grew to national prominence in the genre, both for his mandolin playing and his recording expertise, which he put to use at his Event Records recording studio in the basement of his television repair shop on Route 302. He died Dec. 28 at the age of 88.
Merton Henry, a prominent moderate Maine Republican who advised U.S. senators Margaret Chase Smith, Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, died in April at the age of 92.
Stephen Hillenburg credited the summers he spent earlier in his life on Little Cranberry Island with helping to inspire the creation of SpongeBob Squarepants, the Nickelodeon television cartoon that spawned two feature films, a Broadway musical, and grew into a multi-billion dollar retail licensing powerhouse for the children's programming television network. Hillenburg, 57, died in November from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.
Sue Hubbell was an author, farmer, beekeeper and essayist for the New York Times and New Yorker. A Michigan native, she lived in Milbridge for many years before increasing dementia led her to move in with her son Brian Hubbell in Bar Harbor this past summer. She died in October at the age of 83.
Robert Indiana, the world-famous pop artist best known for his 1960s “LOVE” series, moved from New York City to Vinalhaven in 1978. An Indiana native, the artist was known for his desire for solitude. His isolation later in life raised concerns among people who could not get through to him and led allegations of fraud against his publisher and caretaker. He died in May at the age of 89.
James Knott invented the wire lobster trap in the 1950s in Massachusetts, but it took another 20 years before the design -- which is more durable and easier to both maintain and use than the wooden traps they supplanted -- became the tool of choice in the lobster industry. Knott, who died in August at the age of 88, never lived in Maine but his invention had a huge impact on Maine's signature seafood industry. Because of it, he received an honorary degree from University of Maine in 2006.
Doug Rafferty was a longtime reporter and anchor for WGME, the CBS affiliate in Portland. He suffered an on-air stroke in 2006 and later filed a discrimination lawsuit against the station, which was settled out of court in 2013. He died at age of 66 in October, hours after arriving in Hawaii to visit his daughter.
John Wulp, an award-winning director, producer, playwright, designer, visual artist and educator, moved from New York to Vinalhaven in 1992. In 1978 he won a Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for his production of “Dracula” on Broadway and, after moving to Maine, staged many plays with local students and other community members at Waterman's Community Center on Vinalhaven. He died in November at the age of 90.
