Funeral Services Scheduled for UMaine Benefactor Richard Collins

Funeral services will be held July 11 in Belfast, Maine, for University of Maine alumnus and benefactor Richard Collins of Northport, Maine, and Key Largo, Florida, who passed away July 7. He was 77.

Graveside services will be July 12, followed by a reception at UMaine’s Hutchinson Center. Details are online.

Dick Collins graduated from UMaine in 1959 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He was president of his class and captain of the men’s basketball team, and went on to a career in the insurance industry. His wife, Anne Adams Collins, is a member of the Class of ’61 with a degree in education.

The many philanthropic contributions by Dick and Anne Collins to UMaine included the 2007 pledge of $6 million — one of the largest gifts in the history of the University of Maine. That pledge included $5 million for improvements to the then Maine Center for the Arts.

Through the years, both Dick and Anne Collins have been active members of the UMaine community, serving on numerous alumni boards and committees, helping raise funds for building projects and establishing scholarships. Dick Collins’ many leadership roles included chair of the University of Maine Foundation Board and a member of the UMaine President’s Development Council.

One of the couple’s many UMaine honors for their dedication and leadership included a 2007 Stillwater Presidential Award. Dick Collins also was inducted into the 2011 UMaine Sports Hall of Fame.

“We are deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of the University of Maine’s most dedicated alumni volunteers and benefactors,” said UMaine President Susan Hunter. “Dick and his wife, Anne, worked tirelessly to make their alma mater the pride of the state of Maine and beyond. Their many philanthropic interests included the performing arts and athletics, and the Collins Center for the Arts that bears their names. The University of Maine community has lost a visionary and a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with Anne, the Collins family and their friends.”

UMaine Professor Emeritus George Jacobson, a longtime friend of Dick and Anne Collins, said: “Maine has lost one of its greatest sons. Dick Collins loved our state, and was extremely grateful that the University of Maine prepared him so well for what became a fascinating and distinguished career in international business. Dick and his wife, Anne have been the most consistent and selfless supporters of the university because they were determined to see that others would be able to experience the joys of an educated life.

“(Dick) deeply loved the Black Bear teams, and supported them, win or lose, though he greatly preferred the wins,” Jacobson said. “But his continual efforts to strengthen Maine’s research university were even more impressive. He understood that Maine’s economic future depends on new ideas that are born and nurtured in the university’s vigorous research environment.”