Melissa Fontaine-Field, Angie Fontaine-Larochelle and Crystal Fontaine-Bergeron, the second generation of real estate agents, have taken the lead at Fontaine Family Team realty. Contributed / Fontaine Family Team
Second generation takes the helm at Fontaine Family Team
Fontaine Family Team – The Real Estate Leader was sold to the second generation of daughters Melissa Fontaine-Field, Angie Fontaine-Larochelle and Crystal Fontaine-Bergeron in early 2021.
With a combined 70 years of experience in real estate, the women provide a solid foundation on which to build the future of the business.
Brenda Fontaine, who began as a real estate agent in 1983, brought her husband Claude and daughter Melissa on board in 1992. Over the years, other family members joined the team, including sons-in-law Bill Bergeron and Clayton Larochelle and grandson Dustin Larochelle.
Today, with two locations in Auburn and Scarborough, the new owners are preparing to expand into New Hampshire. Within the next few months a Fontaine Team mobile app will become available, featuring communication immediacy for agent contact, Maine real estate listings, and assorted tech benefits, all fingertip and pocket-ready.
Brenda Fontaine said while she is no longer the front person, she will remain active as a consultant to her daughters and as a mentor and training coach for the team.
“I have every confidence in this new generation of ownership and I know our clients, new and returning, will continue to enjoy the extraordinary concierge real estate experience that has been our team’s signature since the very beginning,” Fontaine said.
Milestones
Maine Community Foundation has passed the $500 million mark in grants awarded since it was founded 38 years ago. Edward Kaelber, founding president of College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, began the community foundation in 1983 with a $10 gift from New York businessman Robert Blum. MaineCF provides grants to nonprofit organizations, awards educational and aspirational scholarships, and manages funds for nonprofit organizations and municipalities.
Giving back
Bobby Monks and Bonnie Porta of Cape Elizabeth have donated $1 million to the University of Maine Graduate & Professional Center, which has pushed fundraising into the final phase to match an initial $7.5 million Harold Alfond Foundation challenge grant for distance learning and telemedicine. Monks, of Cape Elizabeth, is an entrepreneur, member of the Maine Center Ventures Board of Directors and a co-chairperson of the Maine Center campaign.
“Bonnie and I are proud alums of the University of Southern Maine,” Monks said. “We believe in the transformational power of public higher education and urge others to join us in narrowing the opportunity gap and making sure all bright, ambitious students, including Black, Indigenous and people of color and other vulnerable communities, can find a world of educational and career opportunities right here in Maine.”
The Elizabeth Wadsworth Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, in partnership with the Southern Maine Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution, collected more than 5,000 individual personal hygiene items, including shampoo, conditioner, soap and lotion, and assembled kits to be provided to families staying at the Ronald McDonald House in Portland “so families have one less thing to worry about while a child seeks treatment,” according to a prepared release.
Recognition
Jeff Thaler, professor of practice at University of Maine School of Law, and David Van Slyke of Preti Flaherty, both Yarmouth residents, have been selected as two of 37 attorneys for the inaugural 2021 Lawdragon 500 Leading U.S. Environmental & Energy Lawyers guide. The peer-reviewed guide features attorneys who specialize in protecting the environment. Thaler is also an associate faculty member at the University of Maine Climate Change Institute and associate counsel for the University of Maine System.
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