SCARBOROUGH – Charles H. Abbott, 73, of Falmouth, passed away on June 12, at the Gosnell Hospice House, with his family by his side, after a four-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease.

He was born Oct. 26, 1935, in Rumford, the oldest son of Lucille and Warren Abbott. He attended Rumford schools, Bowdoin College on a state of Maine scholarship and Yale Law School.

Raised on a working farm, Charlie’s connection to his Maine roots never abated during his remarkable career.

From 1958 to 1960, he served as first lieutenant, U.S. Army and was a special agent in the United States Counterintelligence Corps (CIC), the predecessor to the Central Intelligence Agency. In the CIC, he was responsible for the security of heads of state and dignitaries such as former Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Harry S. Truman, Fidel Castro and Nikita Khrushchev.

He was a financial analyst at Dunn & Bradstreet Inc., before entering law school in 1960. Upon graduation, he became a partner in the Auburn-based law firm of Skelton, Taintor & Abbott. Ultimately, he became chairman of the board, until his retirement.

In the legal community, he was renowned for his integrity, guidance and intellect; his dedication to his profession; and for being a both a lawyer and a gentleman. For decades, Maine leaders sought his counsel.

From 1975 to 1976, he was a member of the Governor’s Executive Council and from 1976 to 1986 served on the Maine Board of Executive Clemency.

He was appointed by President Carter to the United States Judge Selection Commission for the First Circuit and had been a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers since 1978.

In the 1970s, he served on the Civil Rules and Criminal Rules Committees of the Supreme Judicial Court and the Supreme Court Liaison Committee between the Bench and Bar.

While in Auburn, he was an assistant county attorney, president of the Androscoggin County Bar Association and a member of the Charter Revision Commission.

In 1988, he became a member of the board of directors for Central Maine Power Co., serving as vice chairman from 1997 to 2001. From 2000 to 2005, he was on the board of directors of Susquehanna Pfaltzgraff Co., in York, Pa.

Toward the end of his career, he was in great demand in Maine as an arbitrator and mediator of choice.

Over the years, he was a trustee for the Auburn chapter of the Red Cross, the Portland Symphony Orchestra and the Theater at Monmouth.

Reading was his passion and he spent years researching and writing about the Abbott family genealogy.

An avid outdoorsman throughout his life, he enjoyed hunting, fishing and hiking in the Maine woods with the Abbotts and friends and traded countless stories around family camps, inspired by these adventures.

In later years, he enjoyed spending time at the beach in Florida with his grandchildren and playing golf with his wife and their many friends.

He is survived by his wife of 20 years, Mary Holt Abbott; son, Woods Abbott, his wife, Susan, and their children, Brittany and Matthew of Wilmington, Mass.; son, Edward Abbott, his wife, Christine, and their children, Zachary and Andrew of Leesburg, Va.; daughter, Ann Abbott Wendler, her husband, Luke Wendler, and their son, Asa of San Francisco, Calif.; stepdaughter, Jody Myers of Morristown, N.J.; stepson, Darren Myers, his wife, Melissa, and their children, Calvin, Carson and Cashton of La Crosse, Wis.; brother, Walter Abbott and his wife, Carol, of Orono and their children, Steven, Scott and Sherry; brother, Wilder “Kim” Abbott and his wife, Alice, of New York, N.Y., and their children, Lucy and George; also, there will be three additional grandchildren born in the coming months to Edward and Ann.