By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – It’s almost the only job he’s ever had and now, after nearly four decades at the University of Maine at Farmington, Vice President Roger Spear has announced his retirement.

In 1966, Spear, now 61, was hired by the college’s business manager, Paul Judkins, to be his assistant when Spear was 23. After only a year on the job, Spear became the chief financial officer when Judkins took a leave of absence from which he never returned to work with the Ford Foundation. At the time, Spear was believed to the be the youngest college CFO in the nation.

“I’m crying, I’m sad about Roger,” said college President Theodora J. Kalikow on Monday. It wasn’t a surprise though. He decided it was the time to go on to other adventures, she said.

“Roger’s a prince,” she said. “I think he’s done more for the university than anybody.”

“The university would not be in the strategically advantageous position it is today without Roger’s leadership and wisdom,” Kalikow said in a written statement.

She also called him trustworthy.

“He doesn’t double talk. If you shake hands with him, you know you have a deal and everybody knows it,” Kalikow said.

Judkins, who hired him, said his attention to detail was one key to Spear’s success.

“He’s personable and talented,” he said Monday. “And all those things add up. He is a good manager. Just look at his accomplishments, where the university has gone.”

“He’s not going to be easy to replace. He’s played a significant role in the growth of the university,” Judkins said.

“I think he’s earned it,” he added of Spear’s retirement.

Sitting in his office in Merrill Hall on Monday, Spear noted that he grew up in Farmington and left to go to Boston University in 1962. At the time, he thought he wanted to be a town manager, he said.

“I think I made the right decision,” he said.

He never thought he’d be coming back to Farmington. But when he graduated in 1966 with a business degree, Judkins recruited him and Spear found himself back in his hometown.

He’s been here ever since.

When he was hired, the school’s enrollment was 680 students. Now it’s 2,049. During his tenure, the number of campus buildings has increased from 12 to 42 and the college’s annual operating budget has grown from about $800,000 to more than $30 million.

As an intermittent “you’ve got mail” emitted from his computer in the corner of his office, Spear also spoke of the changes in technology since he started his career.

In 1966, there was one photocopier for the whole school and state-of-the-art word processing was the IBM Selectric typewriter in the president’s office. Back then, his responsibilities included purchasing.

“I bought carbon paper by the case,” he said with a chuckle.

He reminisced about Y2K for which he was on a preparation committee. There was all kinds of commotion, he said. Four days before New Year’s Eve 1999, he had a heart attack.

When nothing went awry technologically at the college, the joke around campus was “the only thing that wasn’t compliant was Spear,” he said with a laugh.

Growth has made the job more complicated and complex, he said. But he’s been able to “hire some really good people who have made life OK.”

He’s a baseball devotee, with an office that’s a tribute to the sport. One wall is lined with baseball photos and posters, the centerpiece of which is a large portrait of Babe Ruth.

“I’m not a Yankees fan,” he said definitively. “I’m a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. But Babe Ruth represents all of baseball,” he said gazing up at the slugger.

Spear will be stepping down Aug. 31 but will assist with the transition of a new vice president into the fall.

He has not made definitive plans for his retirement but said he looks forward to drawing his first Social Security check. He plans to continue his work on the board of the United Kingfield Bank and to pursue his love of harness racing. He owns two horses.

He will also spend more time hunting, fishing and hiking, he said, and will continue to enjoy watching Red Sox spring training since his Florida retirement home is “conveniently located” near their camp.

“I’ll always have fond memories,” he said of his time at the college. “I can’t imagine the last day, turning in my keys and walking out of here,” he said.