The funeral for Samuel was on SUNDAY, JUNE 23 at NOON
at the Portland Jewish Funeral Home at 471 Deering Ave, Portland, ME
Burial will be MONDAY, JUNE 24, AT NOON
at Mount Sinai Cemetery on Hicks Street, Portland.
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Samuel M. Zaitlin, a leader in Maine’s business community who also held several important positions in state government, passed away in the early morning hours of June 20, 2024, at the River Ridge facility in Kennebunk. Congestive heart failure brought on by a blood infection was the cause of death.
Sam Zaitlin was born on Dec. 5, 1948, in Biddeford. His parents were Joseph and Celia (Fleet) Zaitlin. The family owned a small hotel at Old Orchard beach, the Brown Street House, later converted to an apartment building, where Sam spent many happy summer days. His cousin Shelley Fleet recalls “Sammy” whiling away the afternoons at the beach reading stacks of comic books with their covers ripped off (to prevent resale) that his father had obtained through scrap dealings at the business Sam’s grandfather founded in 1917, I. Zaitlin and Sons. His cousin Steve Fleet offered that “Sam was a few years older than me, so I was impressed by his more advanced toys. He supplemented his erector set with batteries, ancillary motors, magnets the size of bricks, and car parts such as odometers that came from Zaitlin’s. He would make functioning cranes and elevators that actually worked.”
An early interest in law enforcement spurred Sam to write to FBI Chief J. Edgar Hoover about joining up. Friends who knew Sam in later life as an energetic progressive will be amused to learn that Sam framed Hoover’s reply letter, expressing J. Edgar’s delight in Sam’s interest in the Bureau, and displayed it on his office wall.
At Biddeford High School, Sam served as President of his Junior Class and as Student Council President his junior and senior years and was a delegate to Boys State. Graduating in 1966 after being voted “most likely to succeed” and “most ambitious,” he attended Boston University where, as he was later to relate, he rode motorcycles and was attentive to young ladies.
Sam was always most comfortable on a motorcycle. Lacking a car while at BU, he would ride his “bike” back and forth to and from the Zaitlin home in Maine even in winter. He remained lifelong friends with Carleton “Bumpy” Palmer and Neil Tolhurst, dorm mates and motorcycling friends from his BU days.
Sam transferred to the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg after a few years at BU but had to discontinue his undergraduate education and return home to take over the family scrap business when illness forced his father to retire in 1969.
Sam had been working at Zaitlin’s beginning at the age of 14 and over time earned various certifications as a heavy equipment operator. For many years afterwards he would break into his trademark big smile recalling his happy days in the cab of a crane pulling levers and pushing pedals as he moved scrap about. Taking over from his father, Sam proved to be as accomplished a businessman as he was a crane operator. Under his management, Zaitlins grew from a small local firm to a major statewide player in the scrap industry.
Casella purchased Zaitlins in 1997, and Sam then became a vice president of KTI, a Casella subsidiary and owner of the Maine Energy Recovery Company, or “MERC,” plant in Biddeford, a waste-to-energy facility. Sam had the difficult task of defending MERC’s continued operation in Biddeford until stepping down from KTI in 2008.
Although without an undergraduate degree, Sam never lost his thirst for learning. In 2000, he enrolled at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, earning a master’s degree in 2002. Sam was very proud of being a “Harvard Man,” and on cool days would often wear his Kennedy School fleece vest with the Harvard Coat of Arms. In a tribute to his sense of humor, and refusal to be taken too seriously, he framed the letter he received in 1966 rejecting his application for Harvard College, displaying it alongside of the letter from Hoover.
Sam’s tenure at KTI sparked a strong and continuing interest in the energy industry. In 2008, together with former CMP CEO David Flanagan and others, he formed a start-up energy storage business promoting heating and cooling options designed to reduce peak loads on utility systems. Unfortunately, the business did not survive a steep decline in oil prices.
An early and firm believer in the redevelopment potential of the old mills in the Saco-Biddeford area, Sam became active in buying, rehabilitating and improving the mill district, dedicating twenty years of his life to the effort. His inspiration, investment, and hard work helped to turn abandoned hulks into the thriving area we see today.
Sam’s interest and involvement in public affairs drove him to run for mayor of Saco as an independent in 1974. He was, and remains, Saco’s youngest, and only Jewish, mayor, taking office four days ahead of his 27th birthday after carrying all seven wards. He campaigned against the “good old boyism” and lack of transparency that had characterized city government, and as Mayor he earned praise for opening up the conduct of city affairs to public involvement and scrutiny.
An active member of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, Sam sat on the Chamber’s Board for many years, often playing a leadership role. In an interview for this obituary, Sam’s long-time close friend and fellow Chamber Board member Dana Connors pointed out that as Board Chair in 1994, Sam successfully pushed the Chamber to endorse that year’s controversial equal rights referendum, an important issue for Maine’s LGBT community. Dana also remarked, as have many others, on Sam’s instinctive generosity. “I had no greater friend in this world.”
Another close friend and motorcycle riding compadre, former Governor and now Senator Angus King, appointed Sam to chair the Board of Environmental Protection and the Maine Turnpike Authority. Sam chaired the Turnpike Board through the massive Widening Project in the early 2000’s.
Reflecting on his long and profound friendship with Sam, Senator King noted that only a few months before his death, Sam had taken a lead role in drafting an important speech later delivered by the Senator on Ukraine. “Sam Zaitlin,” Sen. King observed, “was a rare individual. A deep thinker who was always sending articles to his friends to read and ponder, a public citizen who served Maine from mayor to Turnpike Authority, a trusted advisor, a dedicated motorcyclist (although I could never get him on a Harley), and, finally, one of the best friends anyone could have. His passing leaves a void that can only be filled by the fondest of memories.”
Sam’s hobbies included riding motorcycles, collecting old photographs, and listening to music on his high-end stereo system. In December of 2004, Sam served as Master of Ceremonies at the opening of “Anne Frank in the World,” an exhibit of photographs at Portland City Hall that Sam had arranged through his personal connections.
His motorcycling adventures were legendary. He held a special fondness for riding in the Southwestern United States, eventually coming to own condominiums in Green Valley, Arizona. From there, he and his Arizona motorcycle pal Menachem Lorber would take off on extended jaunts, several times participating in the Three Flags Classic, a 2100-mile run between points in Mexico and Canada. In later years when he became unable to ride, a dreamy look would come over him as he reminisced about specific routes where he could “open ‘er right up” recalling the glorious scenery and the thrill of the ride.
When illness brought his motorcycling career to an end, he shifted focus to building a magnificent stereo system featuring 5-foot-high room-shaking speakers that he would enjoy cranking up when visitors came by.
Thrice married and thrice divorced, Sam nevertheless remained close to his first two wives, Danielle Slator and Amy Silver. Danielle, who was one of the few employees at Zaitlin’s in the early years of Sam’s tenure, served as Sam’s patient advocate and handled his affairs through a staph infection ten years ago that nearly killed him and again through his most recent, and last, illness. Amy moved in with Sam and acted as his primary caregiver both during the extended staph episode and again for eight months during the past year when Sam was bedridden and in and out of hospitals and nursing facilities. Close friends Bonnie Pothier and Kim Kenway visited Sam frequently during his final months, for which he frequently expressed his thanks.
Perhaps the strangest twist in Sam’s life came towards the end. Invited by a friend to join him for an afternoon game on a warm, sunny day at Fenway in 2022, Sam fell in love with the Red Sox soon after settling into his Field Box Seat. Thereafter, folks coming by the house would be astounded to see the Sox playing on Sam’s living room tv where no sporting event of any kind had ever before been seen.
Sam is survived by his sister, Shifra, and two nephews.
Services honoring Sam Zaitlin’s life were held on SUNDAY, JUNE 23 at noon. at the Jewish Funeral Home, 471 Deering Avenue in Portland followed by a reception at the Italian Heritage Center, 40 Westland Ave in Portland.
Sam’s burial will be on Monday, June 24 at 12:00 PM EDT at Mt Sinai Cemetery on Hicks Street in Portland.