LEWISTON – Belgrade summer resident Harold Alfond, one of the wealthiest and most generous residents of Maine, died Friday. He was 93.

Alfond succumbed to cancer at home surrounded by family, his oldest grandson, David Pearl, said Friday. Earlier in his life Alfond beat cancer, “but it came back,” Pearl said.

In addition to his family and business legacy, Alfond leaves a dozen or more buildings and sports facilities through the state named after him, including a football stadium and hockey rink at the University of Maine in Orono.

UMaine Athletic Director Blake James credited Alfond with “allowing us to remain competitive in Division I athletes. We wouldn’t be the program we are today without him, hockey on down.” Alfond was an incredible person with compassion and “a big heart.” Maine was fortunate, James said, to have someone who cared so much. He said it’s sad “that he no longer will be with us. But the impact he had on us will be forever.”

Alfond was a self-made man. Born in 1914 in Swampscott, Mass., he was the son of Russian immigrants. After graduating from high school, he got a job at a shoe company in Kennebunk, Maine.

He didn’t go to college. “In 1934 we didn’t know what college was; we went to work,” he told Forbes magazine. He rose from shoe boy to factory superintendent.

He went on to found Dexter Shoe Co., which made shoes for big retail chains. Even the Dalai Lama wore Dexter shoes. Alfond is credited with inventing the factory store with his log cabin Dexter Shoe outlets.

He was a shrewd investor. In 1993, Alfond exchanged ownership of Dexter Shoe Co. for shares of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire company. Three years later, those shares were worth $1.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine. Buffett asked Alfond, his nephew and sons to remain at Dexter.

A huge sports enthusiast, he was a co-owner of the Boston Red Sox. He built a replica of Fenway Park in Oakland for little leaguers, and built a state-of-the-art golf course in Belgrade.

At age 36 Alfond created a foundation to give to worthy causes. He’s been giving ever since, touching dozens of colleges and youth organizations, including Colby College, St. Joseph’s College, Thomas College, Husson College, the University of New England and the Maine Maritime Academy.

One of his latest gifts was $7 million to the Harold Alfond Center for Cancer Care in Sidney, which opened in July.

Grandson’s memories, Dalai Lama shoes

Alfond and his wife, Dorothy (Bibi), raised three sons and one daughter in Waterville. They had 13 grandchildren. The oldest grandchild, David Pearl, 40, a Yarmouth High School social studies teacher, described his grandfather as charming, sharp and larger than life.

His grandfather was a great listener, Pearl said. If you were talking to him and he thought you were being unclear, he’d let you know. “He cut to the chase. He (was) a man of few words, but those words (were) heavily laden.”

His grandfather was a man with vision. “He started the first private charitable organization in Maine when he was 36.” At that age, “he was already thinking about how he could make the world a better place.”

Pearl credits his grandfather with helping him decide which career path to take. After college Pearl taught overseas, then worked in the shoe business. Pearl said he was wrestling with whether to stay in business. Alfond looked at his grandson and told him, “‘You love teaching. You need to do what you love,'” Pearl said.

Then there was time that Pearl discovered that the Dalai Lama wore shoes made by his grandfather’s company. A friend attended an art show in New York City called “Missing Peace.” In one exhibit the artist had asked Dalai Lama to send him a personal item to include in the art.

The Dalai Lama sent his Dexter shoes. “They were his favorite shoes. He had had them resoled three times,” Pearl said. “I was blown away by the fact that Tibet’s spiritual leader who worked for peace his whole life wore Dexter shoes made by Mainers.”

Alfond’s ‘challenge grants’

Alfond was not only smart in business but shrewd in how he gave.

His style was to offer “challenge grants” requiring matching donations. A college or organization would get thousands or millions from him, if they matched it with private fundraising.

That allowed colleges and organizations to achieve more, said UMaine’s Blake James. Alfond wanted “to push you to get other people involved in making gifts and doing great things.”

Ken Walsh of the Waterville Area Boys and Girls Club/YMCA agreed. Since 1994, Alfond donated $7.4 million to help Waterville area youth. While giving, he not only mandated some private donations, but said the YMCA and Boys and Girls Club needed to consolidate. One big organization could do more than two small ones.

“It was like pulling the Red Sox and the Yankees together,” Walsh said. “But the advantages were tremendous.”

Businesses now donate to one organization instead of two, Walsh said. “It opened up so many doors for fundraising we never imagined. Now it is the largest boys and girls club in the country.” Walsh called Alfond “the 21st century Santa Claus. Harold (gave), and challenged others” to give.

Pearl said he can’t recall how many times his grandfather turned attention from himself to the audience when he was being honored, asking them to keep on building.

“He was never one to bask in the glory.” Pearl said, adding he was not a talker, but a doer. “He savored everything, a business deal or family. He drank it in.”

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