Samuel C. Pennington, Publisher of Maine Antique Digest, 1929-2008

Samuel Charles Pennington III died February 2, 2008, at Miles Memorial Hospital in Damariscotta, Maine.

Pennington was born September 18, 1929, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Agnes Johnston Pennington and Samuel Charles Pennington, Jr. He was educated at Calvert School in Baltimore, Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, and Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Pennington joined the Air Force after graduating from college and trained as a navigator-bombardier. His tours of duty included Vietnam, Thailand, Guam, Newfoundland, and Labrador, as well as Loring Air Force Base (Limestone, Maine), Carswell AFB (Fort Worth, Texas), Barksdale AFB (Shreveport, Louisiana), and Dow AFB (Bangor, Maine).

While at Carswell, he met Sally Clayton. They were married on April 26, 1958. The couple had five children and 11 grandchildren.

While Pennington was stationed in Bangor, Maine, in the late 1960's, the couple ran an antiques shop part time. They specialized in early American painted furniture but grew frustrated when they couldn’t find a reliable source of information about the pieces they were buying and selling.

After retirement in 1973, they settled in Waldoboro, Maine.

In November 1973 Sam and Sally Pennington launched the Maine Antique Digest from the kitchen of their Waldoboro home. From the earliest days their children took an active part in the publication of M.A.D. The black-and-white newsprint tabloid now runs about 300 pages and has a readership of some 25,000 dealers, auctioneers, and collectors.

In an article in Johns Hopkins Magazine, Wendell D. Garrett, senior vice president of Americana at Sotheby’s and editor-at-large for The Magazine Antiques, said of Sam: “The brilliance of Sam Pennington is that this was a market that wasn’t being taken care of before M.A.D....What Sam created is like the People magazine of the business.”

“There are people who adore him,” Lita Solis-Cohen, senior editor of M.A.D., said of Pennington, in the same article. “There are people who are furious at him because he’s so honest. And there are people who are afraid of him because of the power of his pen.”

For a short while, the Penningtons also published the Waldoboro Weekly.

Pennington served on the SAD 40 School Board for many years, including several years as its chairman. As the chairman he guided the board with an even hand although his bias was to provide every student the funding needed to secure a superior education. He supported organizations that raised money to augment SAD 40 programs targeted toward teachers and students.

He was a collector of the works of Maine artists and held collections of medals and aviation memorabilia.

Pennington was a Waldoboro representative on the board of Lincoln County Television and served as the board chairman for several years until his failing health caused him to step down in January. For several years he co-hosted a weekly interview, news, and opinion show on LCTV.

He believed in local philanthropy and was an active member of the Democratic Party.

In spite of poor health in the last few months, Pennington faithfully went daily to his office at the Maine Antique Digest to oversee its operation and work on his ongoing projects, television show, and philanthropies. He was fond of saying that old age is not for sissies.

Pennington is survived by his wife, Sally Pennington; his children, Katherine Pennington and her husband, Nicholas Azzaretti, of Newcastle, ME; Nellie Pennington and her husband, Nathan Hine, of South Strafford, VT; Sarah McCleary of Georgetown, TX; Samuel Pennington and his wife, Shane, of Nobleboro, ME; and Mary Pennington and her husband, David O’Connor, of Durham, ME; and by grandchildren Calen Pennington of Somerville, MA; Hannah Pennington of Orono, ME; Allison McCleary of Portland, ME; Chiara and Salvatore Azzaretti of Newcastle, ME; Anne McCleary of Gray, ME; Amos Hine of South Strafford, VT; Amelia and Olivia Pennington of Nobleboro, ME; and Leo and Maysa O’Connor of Durham, ME. He is also survived by a brother, Christopher Pennington, and his wife, Deborah, and their son Andrew of Catonsville, MD. He was predeceased by a sister, Agnes Benziger.

Gifts in his memory may be made to Southern Maine Community College, SMCC Foundation, General Scholarship Fund, 2 Fort Road, South Portland, ME 04106; the Waldoboro Food Pantry, 97 Friendship Rd., Waldoboro, ME 04572; or the Waldoboro Public Library, P.O. Box 768, Waldoboro, ME 04572. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, March 1, at 2 p.m. at the Waldo Theatre, 916 Main Street, Waldoboro. A reception will follow at the Maine Antique Digest building, 911 Main Street. (Snow date is Sunday, March 2.)