AUGUSTA — The Maine Warden Service and state officials are mourning the loss of State Game Warden Maj. Gregory “Gregg” Sanborn, who died at approximately noon on Tuesday at the age of 47.
The Fryeburg native, a 23-year-veteran of the Maine Warden Service, had been battling a rare form of cancer called Cutaneous T-cell lymphoma since being diagnosed in late summer 2011. A stem-cell transplant was required, and after a suitable donor was found for him, it was performed last July. As a result of his effort to find a donor and promote the need for donors, more than one thousand people were added to donor roles.
Sanborn was second in command of the Warden Service, which is extending its sympathies and condolences to his wife Deborah, stepson David Currier, and the rest of his family.
Gov. Paul LePage released a statement mourning the loss of Sanborn late Tuesday afternoon.
“Major Sanborn embodied what it means to be a Maine Game Warden, and was a true ambassador of our great outdoors and our entire state,” LePage said in the press release. “I had the privilege to meet Gregg several times and was always humbled by his commitment to public service and his passion for life, even as he fought this horrible disease.
“The first lady and I extend our thoughts and prayers to his family, and his extended family at the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.”
Services for Maj. Sanborn will be held at the Maine Criminal Justice Academy Saturday.
Col. Joel Wilkinson said of Sanborn in a Maine DIFW press release that he was a dedicated and loyal employee and friend.
“I have had the privilege of spending nearly every day of my last six years working for him and beside him out of the Augusta office,” Wilkinson said in the statement. “He was one of the most unselfish individuals I have ever met in my life and he was a genuine man who believed in traditional values and lived them every day of his life.”
MDIFW Commissioner Chandler Woodcock said all members of the organization are saddened by Sanborn’s passing.
“He was a dedicated and loyal member of the Warden Service and one of the most courageous people I have ever met,” Woodcock said. “We will miss him. He left a lasting legacy, by example.”
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- Deputy Chief Game Warden Gregory Sanborn sits in his Augusta office and talks about the generous outpouring of support after he went public about his battle with cancer.
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