Courtesy / Bibber Memorial Chapel
Henry Bourgeois, 78, led the Maine Development Foundation for 21 years.
April 27, 2022
Henry Bourgeois, former MDF leader, remembered as advocate for sustainable development
By Jessica Hall
Henry Bourgeois, a book lover who led the Maine Development Foundation for 21 years, died April 22. He was 78.
During his leadership at MDF from 1983 to 2004, Bourgeois shifted the organization from being a conventional economic development agency to being “a catalytic ecosystem-builder,” MDF said.
He oversaw the creation of many of the programs the foundation still offers today, including Leadership Maine, Maine Economic Growth Council and our annual Measures of Growth Report, Maine Downtown Center, the Maine Employers’ Initiative/Next Step Maine (now Maine Adult Promise), and Policy Leaders Academy.
Bourgeois had a special passion for education, and he created a marquee program, the Maine Aspirations Foundation, in the early 90s. He co-founded the two groups that are now Educate Maine.
“Henry was exceptionally self-deprecating, He was kind, compassionate, and had a wicked sense of humor. He was a force for equitable, sustainable economic development long before those terms came into widespread use,” MDF said.
Bourgeois, who suffered from Parkinson’s Disease, later went on to co-found and direct the Maine Compact for Higher Education, which had a mission to higher education of Maine’s working-age population.
He also served as CEO of the Alfond Scholarship Foundation, which provided every child born in Maine with a $500 gift to create a college savings account.
Bourgeois served on the board of directors for the Nellie Mae Education Foundation, and the board of the Maine Coalition for Excellence in Education.
Born on July 22, 1943, in Marlborough, Mass., he earned an undergraduate degree from Saint Anselm’s College and a graduate degree from the University of New Hampshire. He started his career as a librarian at the Nashua Public Library. Following his retirement in 2013 he returned to his library roots by becoming a trustee for the Kennebunk Free Library.
Bourgeois is survived by his wife of 34 years, Sharon Landry; his children John Bourgeois and wife Rebecca Morrison, Tina Bourgeois and partner Edward Zink, Marc and wife Sandra Bourgeois, and Julie Bourgeois and husband Elek Pew; his grandchildren Erika, Emma, Knowles, Kendall and Skye; his brother and sister-in-law, Charlie and Darlene Bourgeois; and many nieces and nephews.
A memorial service celebrating Henry will be held at Bibber Memorial Chapel, 67 Summer St. in Kennebunk, on Wednesday, April 27, at 2 p.m. The family will welcome friends and family before the service beginning at 1 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made in Henry’s name to the Kennebunk Free Library, 112 Main St., Kennebunk, ME 04043.
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Anonymous
April 27, 2022
Henry was a terrific leader and one adept at identifying community needs and envisioning programmatic approaches to address those needs. As one of the several UNUM execs loaned to the Maine Aspirations Foundation experiment, I was grateful to work with Henry and understand his work first hand
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