By Mark LaFlamme,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – Gwilym Roberts was not one to fade from view after a long, illustrious career. Until recently, the former college professor and public speaker was among the most ubiquitous fixtures on downtown streets.

“He was an institution in this town,” said state Rep. Janet Mills. “He was downtown every day. He’d be talking to people like it was a Parisian cafe. This was someone who people loved to sit and talk to.”

Roberts, professor, world traveler, author and former representative, died Tuesday morning at the age of 88. Friends said he had been ill in recent weeks but was at home with family when he died.

On Tuesday, news that the Farmington icon had passed away spread fast in the community. His presence was missed in the downtown area. Gone were colorful stories about trips to Russia and other parts of the world. Gone were wry jokes and long observations about arts and sciences. Gone was a man who was adored by the scholars, teachers and just about anyone who had the honor of knowing him.

“Gwilym was enormously popular with both townspeople and the college community,” said former legislator Paul Mills. “He had a great sense of humor and a very hearty laugh. He was as popular as any person I have known.”

If there is anything to be regarded as more impressive than Roberts’ immense popularity, it might be his career and achievements.

In 1940, he was hired as a one-year substitute at Farmington Normal School, where he remained as a member of the history department for 43 years. He served as chairman of that department, dean of instruction and for 11 years, as the first dean of instruction of the University of Maine at Farmington.

Some described Roberts as the man who should have been UMF president.

“If there had ever been a popular vote among faculty and the student body, he would have won hands down,” Paul Mills said.

Roberts was involved with UMF but also branched out in a variety of directions.

After studying Welsh as a foreign language, he did research in Wales and in the United States on slate quarries and quarry villages. He also studied the migration of slate quarry families from Wales to America. His book on this subject, “New Lives in the Valley,” was published in 1998 and went into a second printing in 2000.

Roberts was awarded the Hopkins Medal, the highest honor of St. David’s Society of New York State, in 1999. In October of 2001, he received the George Jones Medal of Green Mountain College for his work in preserving the Welsh-American heritage.

“He was a bright, bright guy,” Janet Mills said. “He was a font of knowledge.”

In retirement, he founded the UMF Alumni Travel Program, leading hundreds of alumni in summer trips to most of Europe and to China. During a trip to Russia, Roberts was stricken with appendicitis and nearly died, according to Janet Mills.

Moderator of the Farmington Town Meeting for 20 years, Roberts served in the Maine House of Representatives in 1985-87 as a Democrat representing the normally Republican Farmington district. Once again, his popularity served him in what might have otherwise become a difficult situation.

“There is just nobody that didn’t like Gwil,” Janet Mills said.

In 1989, the largest classroom building on the UMF campus was named the Gwilym R. Roberts Learning Center. Because of his strong support of athletics, he was one of the three original members of the UMF Athletic Hall of Fame when that organization was created in 1994.

Roberts leaves a wife and five daughters, as well as the “thousands and thousands” of students he mentioned during his decades with UMF.

“He had a wonderful full life and a beautiful family,” Janet Mills said. “He was just a wonderful, wonderful guy.”