Richard Livingston, born Dec. 27, 1944 in Baltimore and living in Bremen, died peacefully in hospice Nov. 30, 2023 after a difficult convalescence from surgery on Nov. 3 for a bleeding brain aneurysm.
Rich was fond of pointing out that he was among the last people born before the Baby Boom. As a teenager he worked at the historic Baltimore amusement park featured in John Waters’ “Hairspray,” hung out at the diner featured in Barry Levinson’s “Diner,” and graduated early from high school at 16. He attended Michigan State University and Johns Hopkins, dropped out to take a job with a radio station in Baltimore, and never finished his degree. Drafted during the Vietnam War, he was given a medical deferment due to a minor circulatory disorder that never otherwise affected him.
His first career was in radio and TV production, working with young Jim Henson and Willard Scott in Washington and later starting an audience analytics business. In the 1970s and ‘80s, he worked with prestigious D.C. advertising agencies Earle Palmer Brown and Goldberg Marchesano and then became a partner in Weitzman-Livingston. Also in the 1980s, he began his civic and political work by serving on the founding board of the Anacostia Watershed Society, an environmental protection group flourishing today.
In 1991, he moved to Auburn and started his third career as an economic development consultant and civic leader, serving on the Auburn school board and city council as well as many nonprofit boards and as president of the Unitarian-Universalist church there.
In 2013, after working as a freelance lobbyist for AARP and making significant contributions to the text of the Affordable Care Act, he was appointed to the volunteer position of president of AARP Maine. After retiring from the retirement organization, he remained active as a volunteer for crowdsourced environmental science projects and the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens, and recently became VP of the Lincoln County Democratic Committee.
He was inspired by Tolkien and Victor Hugo, Shakespeare and the Beatles and Tom Lehrer and Molly Ivins and Christopher Moore and the Smothers Brothers and Heather Cox Richardson. An independent liberal, his political heroes — all of whom he knew personally — included Ed Muskie, William Cohen, Angus King, and Janet Mills. (OK, also Jed Bartlet.)
Rich’s family and friends were never fooled by his efforts to cultivate a curmudgeonly persona with sarcastic and gruff one-liners; he was warm and kind and compassionate and a fierce activist in defense of Medicare and seniors.
He is survived by his life partner, Laura Green, of Bremen; sons, Mike (Heather), of Silver Spring, Md., and Luke (Chelsea), of Falmouth; stepdaughter, Debbie Earnest (Josh Marrits), of Olney, Md.; grandchildren, Samantha and Emily Zanvettor and Everett and Harriet Livingston; step grandchildren, Evan Boundsmith (Aryn), Grace and Ruth Pankl, and Connor Wolk; and step great-granddaughter, Rowan Boundsmith. He is predeceased by his wife, Barbara Earnest Livingston; and previous wife, Christine Kennell Livingston. His parents were Baltimore pawnbroker and jeweler Hillard Livingston (1917-1995) and bookkeeper Sonia Helen Livingston (nee Wolfe, 1922-2016).
A celebration of Rich’s life is planned for Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024 at 2 p.m. at First Unitarian Church, in Auburn, and on Zoom. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages donations to Androscoggin Home Healthcare & Hospice (androscoggin.org); Central Maine Medical Center’s Cardiac Care Program; and the Anacostia Watershed Society (anacostiaws.org).
Arrangements are under the direction and care of the Strong-Hancock Funeral Home, 612 Main Street, Damariscotta, ME 04543. Condolences, and messages for his family, may be expressed by visiting stronghancock.com.
