WINTHROP — A former superintendent of school districts in Livermore, Livermore Falls and Winthrop was remembered by peers Friday as a visionary who wanted what was best for schoolchildren at a price taxpayers could afford.

Terry Despres, 63, of Winthrop died Wednesday.

He picked potatoes, worked in lumber mills and shined shoes as a young man in Aroostook County to pay for college.

Despres worked his way up from a teacher to a leader in education and was a businessman during his career.

He was recognized in 2005 by Maine Department of Education Commissioner Susan Gendron for his leadership and work in education.

Despres was also instrumental in leading the way to help bring more cost-saving measures to school districts and to deliver more joint services to students. His goal was to keep as much money in the classroom as possible.

He retired from SAD 36 after about six years as superintendent in January 2009 citing personal and medical reasons.

The long hours required as superintendent got to be too much for him. He was under medical advisement to limit his schedule to 15 to 20 hours a week, Despres said last spring.

Despres and his wife, Jayne, started a new company, Synergetic Solution Services, to “provide efficient, expert solutions for educational systems and businesses.”

Under his leadership in SAD 36, now Regional School Unit 36 in Livermore and Livermore Falls, he helped institute a plumbing crafts program for kids at high schools in Livermore Falls and Jay, a Progressive Learning Institute program to help keep kids in school and get a diploma after dropping out, a behavior program, and an online program to help school districts around the state get the best buy for taxpayers’ dollars.

Both Mt. Blue Regional School District Superintendent Mike Cormier and Regional School Unit 58 Superintendent Quenten Clark, who both worked with him in Franklin County, said they considered Despres an advocate of collaboration.

“I liked him,” Clark said Friday. “Terry was a bit of a visionary. He saw these collaborations as part of the solution to provide school services.”

Clark said he and Cormier were listening to Despres talk about collaboration one day, and they started a conversation that led to sharing a technology director between the systems.

Prior to that, the two neighboring school districts, serving 14 towns between them, had never shared services.

They do now, and it is working well, Clark said.

“I think Terry was a visionary. He looked at the big picture,” Cormier said.

He was always looking for ways to expand educational opportunities for kids, he said.

“He certainly championed collaboration,” Cormier said. “I miss him as a colleague. … His heart was in the right place. He had influence in many, many places we have probably forgotten about.”

Visiting services will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 21, at Knowlton and Hewins Funeral Home, 1 Church St., Augusta. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Monday, at St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Western Avenue, Augusta.

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