Joe Brennan, longtime politician and former governor of Maine, dies at 89

Joe Brennan, former governor of Maine and member of the House of Representatives, died Friday at age 89. As confirmed by his friend Frank O’Hara, Brennan died at home in Portland, with his wife by his side in a house just a few blocks away from where he was raised with his seven siblings. Several Maine politicians lamented the news and remembered who they defined as “a great public servant.”

Throughout his more than 30 years in politics, the Democrat served as county district attorney, state attorney general, state legislator, governor and congressman before joining the Federal Maritime Commission during the terms of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Brennan became governor in 1979 and was reelected in 1982. He pushed for educational reforms and stricter highway safety measures during his tenure and helped establish the Maine Finance Authority.

He later served four years in the House of Representatives (1987-1989) and tried unsuccessfully to return to the governor’s mansion on two occasions. His last election was in 1994 when he failed to enter the Senate after being defeated by Republican Susan Collins.

In 1999, President Clinton nominated Brennan to head the Federal Maritime Commission, a governmental body charged with regulating shipping between the United States and other countries.

“A great public servant”

The current governor of Maine, Janet Mills, mourned Brennan’s passing in a statement released on Saturday afternoon.

“Maine and the nation have lost a great public servant, and I have lost a friend. Joe Brennan never stopped working to improve the lives of Maine people. (...) Gov. Brennan demonstrated for me and others that politics is about building relationships, that public service is not about enriching yourself but about enriching the lives of others, and that the most important relationship is the one we have with the people we serve,” she wrote.

Another to speak out was John Baldacci, governor of Maine between 2003 and 2011, who described Brennan as a “friend, a mentor and a dedicated servant.”

“He was a man of the highest integrity who led Maine through difficult times. He believed that he had an obligation to make things better, and he lived that ideal through his commitment to public education and improving the state’s economy,” he added.