BURLINGTON, Mass. — William “Bae” Mendelson, 94, of Burlington, Mass., passed away early on the morning of July 18, after a short battle with congestive heart failure.

He was born in Malden, Mass., Feb. 9, 1917, the sixth of eight children to the late Benjamin and Rebecca Mendelson. He married Geraldine (Cox) Mendelson of Randolph, Mass., in 1951.

Mendelson was one of a handful of pioneers in the poultry industry in Maine dating back to the late 1930s. He left his parents dairy in Malden for Belfast, where he began his career working for Maplewood Poultry, hauling live chickens by truck to Boston and New York.

In 1944, he opened a poultry processing plant in Union, under the name of Hillcrest Poultry. In 1956, he was lured to Lewiston and opened a brand new poultry processing facility on Commercial Street and quickly became one of the Twin City’s largest employers. He owned and operated Hillcrest Foods, Inc. in Lewiston until poultry market conditions and the rising cost of petroleum forced the company into bankruptcy in the early 1980s.

Shortly after leaving Lewiston, he worked as a consultant to U.S Agrex Group, an import-export food company in Massachusetts. He also spent time as a poultry processing equipment consultant and board member with Morris Associates of North Carolina. In his later years, he loved spending time visiting with his children and grandchildren and last year became a great-grandfather for the first time.

He is survived by his wife; a sister, Sayde Stein of Chestnut Hill, Mass.; the loving father of Lecia (Mendelson) Rando and her husband, Tony, of Dennis, Mass., Robert Mendelson and his wife, Patti, of Wilmington, Mass., and Mark Mendelson and his wife, Judy, of Old Orchard Beach; cherished grandfather of Jahnaa, Kyle, Victoria, Benjamin, Adrienne and Chloe; and great-grandfather of Oliver. He will be missed by all.

He was predeceased by his parents; sisters, Lillian Shane, Dorothy Higer, Mildred Cassley and Ida Stein; and brothers, Carl Mendelson and James Mendelson.