PORTLAND – Francis Leo Boyle Jr., 82, of Portland, and formerly of Westbrook, died Friday, Sept.14, after a brief illness.

Leo Boyle was born in Portland, son of Francis Leo Sr. and Teresa M. Boyle, on June 7, 1925. A 1943 graduate of Deering High School, Boyle served in the Army Infantry during World War II in Europe, where he received a Purple Heart and earned a Bronze Star medal for heroic action under enemy fire. He attended Purdue University and graduated from the University of Maine.

In 1948, he married Elizabeth Ann (Betty) Pryor of Lafayette, Ind., and became a sales representative for Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Portland. In 1965, he purchased Jones Book Shop at 611 Congress St., and ran his beloved bookstore with friend and business partner, Priscilla Shaw, for more than 15 years. During this time, he appeared as a book reviewer on local television and in 1967 founded with friends the Maine Aviation Historical Society.

Leo was passionate about flying from early childhood, when his parents brought him to his uncle’s farm in Stroudwater and to Old Orchard Beach on weekends to watch planes take off and land. Throughout his life he was an avid Aero Historian, and was awarded the Gaddis Cup by the Maine Pilots Association in 1997, and the Aero Club of New England’s prestigious State Award in 2003 for his “vision and effort in establishing the Maine Aviation Historical Society and his life-long enthusiasm for the preservation of Maine’s aviation heritage.”

A featured speaker at the annual Fly-In in Greenville and at the Owls Head Transportation Museum, Leo was instrumental in establishing the Maine Air Museum in Bangor, and served on the board of directors of the Maine Aviation Historical Society and the Portland Chamber of Commerce Jetport Committee. He was curator and author of the Chamber’s ongoing exhibit, “A History of Aviation in Maine,” at the Portland International Jetport.

After his retirement from Hanson Chrysler Plymouth in South Portland, he operated the Consignment Corner Shop in Scarborough.

He is survived by his wife, Betty, of Portland; daughters, Teresa B. Falsani and husband, Robert, of Duluth Minn., Barbara Boyle and husband, Eugene Takahashi, of Davis, Calif., and Aletha Boyle and husband, Dana Ellis, of Belgrade; sister, Mary Boyle of Portland; grandchildren, Tara Falsani Harkins and Kelly Falsani, Shea and Cameron Ellis and Keenan Takahashi; great-granddaughter Meri Harkins; friends, the Rev. Lynne Campbell and Lisa Jones; his wonderful friends and caregivers at Birchwoods at Canco; and his dachshund, “Dapple.”

He is preceded in death by his parents; his uncle, Harold J. Boyle; and close friends Priscilla Shaw and Jim Chichetto.