PORTLAND – John T. McLoughlin of Portland, died peacefully at Maine Medical Center on January 10 after a period of declining health. He was 60 years old.

Born in Nyack, New York, to James G. and Norma Jannell McLoughlin, John and his family moved to Brunswick, Maine, when he was eight years old. Despite this delayed arrival to his beloved Pine Tree State, John always considered himself a native Mainer. 

John attended local schools and was a proud graduate of Connecticut College, where he earned, with distinction, a degree in Anthropology and Archeology and formed a gaggle of lifelong friends. He was thrilled when his niece Kristen Hummer enrolled at his alma mater in 2020. 

John spent his career in all tiers of the wine and beverage business. Charming, generous, and possessing an encyclopedic knowledge of wine (as well as 1980s Manchester, U.K., bands), John was a well-loved presence in the local and regional wine scene. As a division manager for a distributor, he mentored many budding oenophiles. Yet he was no snob. While he enjoyed deconstructing the terroir of a bottle of Chateau Margaux, he took equal delight finding a can of Coors Light buried in the sand at the beach. (“Free beer!”) Constantly eager to expand his knowledge, he traveled to wineries up and down the U.S. West Coast and across Europe, earning him friends far and wide.

But John was equally content on home turf – exploring the state’s backroads; sharing a meal with friends; sailing with his sister and her family on Middle Bay; stacking wood or eating octopus with nephew Jared; or famously taking Kristen and her high school friends to a Taylor Swift concert at Foxborough. (Kristen insists he had as much fun as the girls.) John was always up for an adventure.

John was predeceased by his parents and by a half-brother, Terrence McLoughlin. He is survived by his sister, Anne McLoughlin, her husband, Alan Hummer, and their children, Jared and Kristen Hummer, all of Brunswick; sister-in-law Arlene McLoughlin of Bloomingburg N.Y., his niece and nephews Susan, Michael, and Thomas McLoughlin; his former wife, Elizabeth Peavey, of Portland; his best friend Tom Loureiro and his wife, Ann Wright, of Portland; and countless cousins, colleagues, and friends along the eastern seaboard and beyond. John was funny, fun and sweet, and the world will have a little less sparkle in it without him.

Visiting hours will be held on Thursday, February 9, from 4 to 6 p.m. at Bruno’s banquet hall, 33 Allen Ave., Portland. A celebration of John’s life will take place later in the spring, tentatively planned for Memorial Day weekend.

Arrangements are by Stetson’s Funeral Home, 12 Federal St., Brunswick, where condolences, memories, and photos may be shared with the family at http://www.stetsonsfuneralhome.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Connecticut College scholarship fund or any organization that promotes social justice.