AUBURN — Donald Lamson Gerow, 77, formerly of Lewiston, died Sunday, Feb. 18, at the Hospice House in Auburn following a long illness.

Born in Waterloo, Iowa, on Oct. 13, 1940, he was the son of Donald Edwin Gerow and Maxine Russell Lamson. Following Maxine’s death in 1942, Don and his sister were raised in Washington, D.C., by their paternal grandmother and Don’s beloved aunt, Alice Heber Gerow.

Don cherished his Huguenot roots, and took great pride in the fact that his maternal grandfather’s home, the Rensselaer Russell House, is a museum in Waterloo, Iowa, and that his paternal family tree was said to include Henri Giraud, the head of the French resistance, and Gen. Leonard Gerow, one of the top American field commanders during WWII.

A graduate of the University of Georgia, Don served a brief time in the Navy OCS before receiving a medical discharge, and began his career in the insurance industry working for the INA (now CIGNA) in Birmingham, Ala. In 1969, he moved with his first wife, Claudia Hughes, and their two children to Cape Elizabeth, where he eventually became the Northern New England field representative for the St. Paul Insurance Co. He later served as a medical malpractice specialist for St. Paul, and ended his career in insurance as VP of marketing for Medical Mutual Insurance Co. in Portland. In retirement, he served as a notary and also served as a volunteer for the Maine Ombudsman Program.

Don’s first marriage ended in divorce in 1977, and in 1992, he married Suzanne R. Roy, of Lewiston. Together they indulged in Don’s love of travel and dining out, and celebrated every Thanksgiving for many years on Sanibel and Marco islands in Florida. Don loved to explore new places and was always able to direct family and friends to travel and dining destinations that rarely disappointed.

Don is survived by his best friend, Suzanne R. Roy, of Lewiston; his son, Mark Hughes Gerow, of Monterey, Mass.; his grandsons, Haedyn Gerow of NYC, and Finn Gerow of Monterey, Mass.; his sister’s children, Michael Moomaw, William Brookshire and Pamela Borst, all of Georgia; several cousins; and his Roy family, Roland and Gabrielle of Lewiston, Paul and Denise of Santa Clara, Calif., George and Gisele of Holden, Bob and Gayle of Winthrop, and their many children and grandchildren, including Joseph Roy, of Lewiston, a nephew with whom Don had a special bond.

He was predeceased by his sister, Anne, who died in 1969, and his daughter, Jennifer Russell Gerow, who died in 2013.

Online condolences and sharing of memories may be expressed at www.lynchbrothers.com.

Donald L. Gerow

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