BOSTON, Mass. – Lawrence Jacob Ward, a prominent and popular businessman who ran Ward Brothers women’s clothing store in Lewiston and led efforts to enhance the downtown, died Friday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, Mass., after a valiant battle with cancer. He was 80.

He was born Nov. 12, 1924, in Lewiston, a son of the late Israel and Anna Ward. As a small boy, he rode on the Portland-Lewiston Interurban. After graduating from Lewiston High School, he attended Bowdoin College to pursue medical studies, but was interrupted in 1943 when he was drafted into World War II.

A technical sergeant in World War II, he was a radio telegrapher for the U.S. Army Air Corps aboard a B-24 Liberator, and took part in 42 bombing missions in the South Pacific, for which he earned several medals.

He advocated for civil rights. During military training in Texas, he objected when a white interstate bus driver, at a bus stop, refused to let an African-American Army sergeant re-board unless the sergeant agreed to sit in the back of the bus. “He wears the same uniform I do,” Mr. Ward said.

After the war, he returned to Bowdoin, where he played trombone in the marching band, and piano in the Buddy Dixon jazz band.

After graduating, he joined his father and uncle, Nathan, who opened Ward Bros. in 1929. Another uncle, Milton, who had helped run the store, was killed in World War II.

In 1951, he married Ann Brodell of New York City, and for years the family lived at 28 Franklin Street. He and his cousin, David Merson, eventually acquired ownership of the store at 72 Lisbon St., and built it into one of central Maine’s premier women’s apparel stores until they sold it in 1987.

He was an avid skier and tennis player. He was an accomplished painter in oils and watercolor. He taught marketing at the former Bliss College in Lewiston, and acted in plays put on by the Little Theater troupe in Lewiston and Auburn.

He was long active with the Chamber of Commerce, and at times served as its president. A loyal Democrat, he was occasionally asked to share his political views with the late U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell, and current U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe. During the 1976 presidential campaign, Rosalyn Carter visited the store, and he led vice-presidential candidate Walter Mondale on a tour of the downtown.

In retirement, he and his wife moved to Cambridge, Mass., where he played jazz piano and taught a popular jazz history course at the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement. He and his wife traveled widely to see art exhibits and visit archaeological sites.

Besides his wife of more than 53 years, he is survived by a daughter, Sandy Simon, her husband, Larry Simon, and their daughter, Melissa; a son, Michael, his wife, Bonnie Agnew, and their son, Clay Ward; and a son, Peter, whose wife, WGBH host Mai Cramer, died in 2002. Another son, Jeffrey, who died in 1991, was married to Esther Sanchez, and had a son, Alex Ward. He is also survived by his sister, Susan Swartz, and was cherished by Merrie Watters.