AUGUSTA — Stanley Sproul, who simultaneously served as Augusta’s mayor and represented the city in the state House of Representatives from January 1971 to January 1975, died Wednesday at age 95.

A son, Roger Sproul, said his father died at the Maine Veterans Home on Cony Road, where he had been living for just over a year.

Peter Thompson, who was Augusta mayor from 1981 to 1988, said Sproul was one of the people who inspired him to run for office.

“I had known Stanley and his family through church for quite a few years and worked with him somewhat after I joined the (Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce),” Thompson said. “He was always a genial gentleman. I thought he was a good mayor. He was very aware of the city and the city’s needs and was a good leader.”

In 1974, Sproul made a run for governor but lost in the Republican primary.

He was mayor and chairman of the city building committee when the Augusta Civic Center opened in 1973, and he started the Mayfair neighborhood development on the east side of Augusta.

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Sproul closed his law practice in 2005 after running it full time for about a dozen years, but had worked numerous other jobs in the life insurance and building materials industries.

Sproul was born on a farm in Windsor and moved to Augusta in 1932, graduating from Cony High School in 1938. He was a pilot in the Navy.

Sproul and Thompson were members of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, and Sproul’s son Edward was ordained there. Sproul is survived by five children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Arrangements are being handled by Knowlton, Hewins Roberts Funeral Homes & Cremation Services, with visiting hours from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at 1 Church St., Augusta, and a funeral service at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Prince of Peace Church, 309 Eastern Ave., Augusta.


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