ROCKPORT – Gerald Paul Michaud, 56, died Saturday, Feb. 5, at Penobscot Bay Medical Center after a courageous battle with cancer.

Born in Augusta on Oct. 4, 1948, he was the son of Hermel and Violet (Morin) Michaud. He was a 1966 graduate of Cony High School and attended the University of Wisconsin.

He was a district circulation manager for the Kennebec Journal in Augusta during the late 1960s. From 1970 to 1975, he was circulation manager for the Times Record in Brunswick. After that, he served as circulation director and marketing director at the Lewiston Sun Journal, for 20 years. He also worked as transportation director at SAD 52 in Turner, and more recently had worked at MBNA in the transportation department.

He served two terms as president of the Maine Press Association, and for many years on their board. He was a member of the International Circulation Manager’s Association. He also served on the DFD Russell Medical Center board, including a year as president of that board. During that time, he testified before Congress about the need for rural medical centers in Maine. He was also a director of the SAD 52 school board for many years.

He approached his fight with cancer the same way he met everything in life – with courage, humor, honesty, and a steadfast devotion to the principles he believed in. He loved the ocean and taught himself to sail on his 25′ sailboat, “Yankee Cadence.” Over the years, his other hobbies, “obsessions,” as he sometimes called them included photography, scuba diving, hiking, biking, kayaking, snorkeling, and furniture making. Most recently, his great passion was riding his Harley Davidson. On March 27, 2004, he married Lucia Anne Allen in Northport.

He is survived by his wife, Lucia A. Michaud, of Rockport; his father, Hermel Michaud of Farmingdale; two sons, Corey Michaud and his wife, Jessica Mahalingappa, of Takoma Park, Md.; Nathan Michaud and his wife, Christie, of Augusta; two daughters, Sarah Charland and her husband, Matt, of Fayette, and Maggie Haines and her husband, Jay, of Garland; his mother and father-in-law, Norma and Luke Allen of Rockport; three stepchildren, Gilda Thompson of Bangor, Kathleen Thompson of Spruce Head, and Kenneth Thompson of Portland; five grandchildren, Isabel Charland, Mariah Charland, Eleanora Haines, Seth Michaud, and Charlotte Michaud; two brothers-in-law, Taylor Allen of Rockport, and Ben Allen of Massachusetts; and a sister-in-law, Sarah Allen of New Hampshire.

He was predeceased by his mother, Violet Michaud, who died in 1999.