The Bowdoin Orient

March 2, 2001
Volume CXXXII, Number 18

Bowdoin pays respects to Overseer Emeritus

COURTESY OF OFFICE OF COMMUNICATIONS

   The American flag flew at half-mast over Bowdoin this week in memorial to Overseer Emeritus Lewis Vassor Vafiades '42, who passed away Tuesday in Bangor at the age of 81.
   Vafiades, who served as an Overseer of Bowdoin from 1973 to 1979, fashioned a truly remarkable record of dedication to the College, and in 1980 received the Alumni Service Award.
   A two-time chairman of the Bowdoin Alumni Fund (1964-65 and 1967-68), Vafiades was a class agent from 1957 to 1962, a fund director from 1963 to 1968, and a member of the Alumni Council from 1968 to 1972.
   A speaker at several campus career conferences for undergraduates, he also served as class secretary, class bequest chairman, and as a Bowdoin capital campaign volunteer worker.
   One of Maine's leading lawyers, Vafiades was the senior partner in the Bangor law firm of Vafiades, Brountas & Kominsky, retiring in 1998.
   A member of the Maine Bar and admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, he was a former president of the Maine Bar Association and a former president of the Maine Trial Lawyers Association.
   He was an elected fellow of the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, a select group whose membership is limited to one percent of each state's trial attorneys, and was appointed to the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He loved the law, and earned a reputation as being a "lawyer's lawyer" and a "true gentleman."
   Vafiades chaired each of William S. Cohen's campaigns for the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate.
   He was a member of the Governor's Commission to Revise the Criminal Code and the Governor's Commission to Study the Maine Trial Court System.
   In 1954 he was Maine chairman of the Crusade for Freedom, a project to support Radio Free Europe. He was active with the United Way and the Penobscot Chapter of American Red Cross.
   A native of Hermon, Maine, Vafiades attended a one-room schoolhouse in Northern Maine Junction. He attended Bangor High School and entered Bowdoin with one of the College's State of Maine Scholarships.
   From 1942 to 1946 he served as a 1st Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in Africa and the Middle East. He taught English and French for a year at Stonington High School before enrolling at Boston University, where he was awarded his LL.B. degree in 1950.
   Recalled to active duty in the Korean War, he was an Air Force Major in a Judge Advocate Assignment from 1951 to 1953.
   The College wishes to extend Bowdoin's condolences to Vafiades's wife Marian, his daughter Susan, and the Vafiades family, and it also extends its deep appreciation for Vafiades's service to the College.
   A memorial service will be held 1:30 p.m. Saturday at All Souls Congregational Church, 10 Broadway, Bangor, with Dr. James L. Haddix officiating.
   Those who wish may make contributions in his memory to the Bowdoin Scholarship Fund, care of Bowdoin College Alumni Association, 4100 College Station, Brunswick 04011-8432; Hampden Academy, Dollars for Scholars, Hampden 04444; or to a charity of one's choice.

Lewis Vassor Vafiades '42
(Courtesy Maine Bar Journal)