Charles Carroll Thomas Jr., of Cumberland Foreside, died on Jan. 8 at Maine Medical Center in Portland after a brief and unexpected illness.
Mr. Thomas was born in New York City on Feb. 15, 1930. He grew up in New Haven, Conn., and graduated from Deerfield Academy and from Yale University, class of 1951. After a two-year tour of duty in the Air Force he moved to Massachusetts where he was employed by Mobil Oil, ending up as a division manager. In 1964 he relocated to New York City where he ran institutional sales for the investment firm of Lionel D. Edie and served as a director. After moving with his family to the Boston area in 1973, settling in Concord, he ran the holding company that owned New England Merchants’ National Bank. Here he diversified the holding company, starting the New England Merchants’ realty and leasing companies. He went on to join Loomis Sayles & Company, working as an investment counselor and a sales and marketing executive. Subsequently he and partner Jerry Grimm started their own firm, Concord Management, and later formed an industry publishing firm which was sold to Standard and Poor Corporation. In 1980 he participated in the formation of the Association of Investment Management Sales Executives (AIMSE) and served as its first president. He also served on the board of trustees of Babson College, the Cambridge School of Weston, Deerfield Academy, the New England Home for Little Wanderers, and the Maine College of Art.
In 1989 Mr. Thomas, known to everyone as Charlie, moved his family to Cumberland. Here he divided his time and energy between his new community and the summer home in Christmas Cove where three generations of his family grew up. In Cumberland, Charlie became interested in the Maine College of Art. Charlie eventually became a trustee of the college, and served over three terms on the board, ending up as chairman. He continued to be active, serving on a number of committees and recruiting donors to the capital campaign. In later years he became an artist himself, creating assemblages in rocks and driftwood, and designing colorful three dimensional wood collages.
He has served for 11 years as alumni director of undergraduate admissions at Yale. He loved choral music, singing Yale’s Mad Hatters, and in the choir of the Congregational Church in Cumberland, where he was an active and supportive member.
Charlie spent almost all the summers of his life in Christmas Cove. At the age of 12 he built his first boat from a design in Popular Mechanics, and later owned two “lobster yachts” and a trawler, all named “Caroline,” in which he cruised the coast from Kittery to New Brunswick. He has been described as “Mr. Christmas Cove” and is one of the two men in over 100 years who has served two terms as president of the Christmas Cove Improvement Association.
He is survived by his wife Carolyn of Cumberland Foreside; two daughters, Anne Hicks and husband William of Atlanta, Ga., and Megan Davis and husband Leverett of Freeport; son, Charles Carroll III and wife Elise of West Hartford, Conn.; sister, Elizabeth Sweitzer and husband Harry of Wayland, Mass.; eight grandchildren, Lucy, Evan and Neal Hicks of Atlanta, Ga., Charles and Kelly Thomas of West Hartford, Conn., and Tyler, Kelso and Maggie Davis of Freeport.
Services 11 a.m., Sat., Jan. 30, at the Congregational Church in Cumberland.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his name may be made to the Maine College of Art and the Congregational Church in Cumberland.
Arrangements are under the guidance of Independent Death Care, 471 Deering Ave., Portland.
