Jim Brinkler, a dedicated volunteer with the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder restoration project and the Newcastle Fire Department and a former member of the Newcastle Select Board, is being remembered by colleagues as a passionate and thoughtful individual. Brinkler died on Dec. 14 after a brief illness. (Courtesy photo)
The passing of Jim Brinkler on Dec. 14 after a brief illness has left a void where one of the pillars of the Newcastle community once stood.
The Newcastle resident was extremely active with the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder restoration project and served on the town’s alewives fish committee for almost 20 years. He was a long-serving member of the Newcastle Fire Department and a past member of the town’s budget committee and select board.
An electrical engineer by training, Brinkler specialized in writing policies and procedures while working with the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Co. in Wiscasset. Over the years, Brinkler’s grant-writing prowess brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars to Newcastle. Serving on the select board between 2002 and 2007, Brinkler’s efforts attracted $200,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds, which helped underwrite a new fire truck and related equipment for the town.
In a statement, Newcastle Fire Chief Casey Stevens said Brinkler’s leadership helped shaped the Taniscot Engine Co. into what it is today.
“I am deeply thankful for the time I spent serving alongside him on the board of trustees,” Stevens said. “Under Jim’s leadership as chairman, I learned a great deal. He was a thoughtful, steady, and highly capable administrator.”
Long after he left the select board in 2007, Brinkler remained extremely active in the restoration of the historic fish ladder in Damariscotta Mills. He was active participant in the harvest and, according to Nobleboro-Newcastle Fish Agent Mark Becker, an enthusiastic host to anyone with an interest.
“I think what I always enjoyed about Jim was no matter how tired we were after harvesting, no matter how much we wanted to go home, he would spot somebody walking around looking at the gear, looking at the fish ladder and he would start talking to them about what they were looking at,” Becker said. “He’d give them a tour. Whether it was the harvest or the ladder, he was just very passionate about it.”
As Brinkler’s involvement dates back to the earliest efforts at organizing a group to repair the then crumbling structure, hiss passing speaks to the end of an era among the fish ladder’s longtime volunteers, Becker said. His immediate predecessor as fish agent, Stan Waltz, passed away in November 2024. Waltz’s predecessor, Frank Waltz died, in February 2025.
Neither were active harvesters toward the end of their tenures, but Brinkler was in the thick of the harvest day in, day out for as long as it lasted, Becker said.
“To me, Jim is almost like he was the last of the old guard before Deb (Wilson) and I got involved down there,” Becker said. “He was there 20 some years ago and he has been there ever since. … When we started the fish ladder restoration group he was one of the folks that was in the early meetings in our living room. He was a big part of it and he is really going to be missed.”
Fish Ladder Restoration President Bob Barkelow said Brinkler provided a constant steady presence and a great representative of Newcastle.
“I thought the world of Jim,” Barkelow said. “He was a great guy and he had an absolute passion for it. He was a wonderful, tireless advocate for the fish ladder and for alewives.”
In materials prepared for the Newcastle Select Board’s Dec. 21 meeting, Newcastle Town Manager Kevin Sutherland said he had gotten to know Brinkler through Brinkler’s involvement in the alewives fish committee.
“He was a great asset to this community and he will be missed,” Sutherland said.
Brinkler leaves behind Cyndi, his wife of almost 60 years, and their three adult children and families, including 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
