BIOGRAPHY: HAROLD ALFOND

BIOGRAPHY:

HAROLD ALFOND

Most describe him as having been modest, easygoing and affable. He considered himself a regular, hardworking guy and was usually seen wearing a ball-cap and casual clothing. Looking at his cheerful, smiling face, you would never have guessed he was one of the wealthiest and most generous people in Maine.Born to Russian immigrants in 1914, Harold Alfond grew up in the small town of Swampscott, Massachusetts. After high school, he turned down an athletic scholarship to Dartmouth College, instead following his father into the working world. He got a job at Kesslen Shoe Company in Kennebunk, Maine and, in short time, rose from odd shoe boy to factory superintendent. According to legend, Harold’s big break came in 1940 when a hitchhiker told him about a vacant shoe factory in Norridgewock, Maine. With help from his father, he purchased it for $1,000. Four years later, Harold sold the company for $1.1 million.

In 1956, Harold Alfond purchased an old woolen mill in Dexter, Maine and began the Dexter Shoe Company. During the next 37 years, Dexter Shoe became one of the nation’s largest shoe manufacturers. With his nephew and business partner, Peter Lunder, Harold grew his business by investing in technology and developing innovative ways to sell shoes. In the mid-1960s, Harold opened a store at one of his factories and started selling factory-damaged and outdated inventory shoes to the general public. By the 1990s, the Dexter Factory Outlet chain had expanded to more than 80 stores. In 1993, at age 79, Harold sold Dexter Shoe to Berkshire Hathaway in an unprecedented deal with billionaire investor Warren Buffet.

Although he had a long and illustrious business career, Harold Alfond’s name is synonymous with generosity in Maine. Harold began his charitable endeavors early in his career. In 1950, he established the Harold Alfond Foundation, the first private foundation in Maine. Harold is credited with bringing a business mindset to the world of philanthropy; choosing only organizations he felt were well run and had important missions. He was deeply committed to his charitable causes and, because of his love for sports and strong belief in education and health care, he tended to support athletic facilities, academic buildings and hospitals, including his long-standing and intimate relationship with MaineGeneral Medical Center. While building his business, Harold Alfond was also busy building his family. He married Dorothy “Bibby” Levine in 1943. Together they raised four children, Ted, Susan, Bill and Peter, and passed on their strong sense of family unity to their many grandchildren and great grandchildren. The whole family often gathers for extended summer holidays in Belgrade Lakes, Maine. Throughout their life together, Bibby was a partner in all of Harold’s charitable giving. Their works influenced the entire family, who continue to support their own cases as a tribute to the lessons they learned from Harold and Bibby.