Keith Owen Sanborn

SACO – Saco, Maine, native, Keith Owen Sanborn, passed away on March 14, 2020, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice House. He was born in Portland, Maine, on April 16, 1946, the only child of Owen and Phyllis (Libby) Sanborn.A graduate of Thornton Academy in 1964, he continued his education at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield for one year before moving on to the University of Maine, in Orono, where he studied electrical engineering and graduated with a BSEE in 1969. After receiving his degree, Keith served in the U.S. Navy for four years, spending time as an electronics instructor on the P3 Orion aircraft, a crew member on a squadron in Brunswick, as well as spending tours of duty in Rota, Spain and the Philippines where he flew support missions into Vietnam.Keith was a licensed professional engineer with professional registrations in approximately half the states in the nation. He spent more than 30 successful years as a professional electrical engineer at United Engineers and Constructors and R. G. Vanderweil Engineers in Boston, as well as Harriman Associates in Auburn after his return to Maine. At Vanderweil, Keith worked his way up to become the company’s Director of Electrical Engineering with Senior Vice President responsibilities. His most notable projects include system wide electrical design of the Boston Tunnel/Artery Project; major academic facilities for Harvard, Dartmouth, Princeton, Brown, Yale, Duke, Ohio State, Vanderbilt, and his alma mater, the University of Maine; facilities for Disney World, Universal Studios, and Sea World; and several science and technology buildings, including laboratories for Wyeth Ayerst, The Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and MIT.Keith believed in the mission of the Boy Scouts of America and spent many years volunteering with his son’s local troop in Salem, N.H. In addition, he served as past master of the Pulpit Rock Masonic Lodge in Pelham, New Hampshire, in the mid-1970s. Keith also enjoyed spending time with his family at their cottage on a lake in Standish, Maine that he and his father built in 1962.In the early 2000s, after 25 years in Salem with his wife, Natalie, and two kids, Keith and his wife moved back to Maine. It was here he built his dreamhouse in Casco that overlooked Mount Washington and Sebago Lake on a clear day. Later, he and Natalie moved to his childhood home, Saco.Keith is survived by his wife, Natalie; his son, Douglas, Douglas’ wife Lyndsay and their two children; his daughter, Karen Cashman and her husband Daniel and their two children. He will also be missed by many friends and former colleagues throughout New England.Funeral services will be announced at a later date, please check www.dcpate.com for updates. Dennett, Craig & Pate Funeral Home, 365 Main Street, Saco, Maine, is respectfully handling the arrangements.Keith asked that those wishing to remember him in a special way either make a gift to Northern Light Home Care & Hospice (50 Foden Rd, South Portland, ME 04106) or the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org (1 Bowdoin Mill Island #300, Topsham, ME 04086), or through a donation of flowers.