Donald Hansen, Maine journalist, died on August 8, 2014 in Ridgefield, Connecticut from complications related to his eight-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. He was 79 years old.

Don Hansen spent his 34-year career in the newspaper business in Maine. His first job was as an editor at the Boothbay Register in 1957. In 1960 he moved to the Gannett newspapers in Portland, papers that included the Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram. He was appointed State House reporter and became a practiced observer of Maine politicians and politics.

Hansen drew on his State House experience in co-writing a biography of Maine Sen. Edmund S. Muskie (published by W.W. Norton) that came out in 1971 during the presidential campaign when Muskie was a top prospect for the Democratic nomination.

Hansen was named editorial page director for the Gannett papers in 1973, a position he held for nearly two decades. During his tenure he helped transform a prior perception of the Portland editorial pages as “reliably Republican” into that of a broader, more open forum for independent views, according to a Maine Press Association citation. Hansen never registered with a political party.

Hansen was inducted into the Maine Press Association’s Hall of Fame in 2013, joining such noted journalists as syndicated columnist Bill Caldwell, Guy P. Gannett, who founded the Gannett newspapers, Walter Mattson of The New York Times, and the Boothbay Register's editor emeritus, Mary Brewer. In fellow journalist and Hall of Famer Jim Brunelle’s introduction at the induction ceremony he noted that, Don Hansen “put his special imprint on all his jobs, delivering thousands of informative and interpretive pieces over the years in clear and direct language that consistently respected the intelligence of his readers.”

A Mainer to the core, he spent most of his life in the state, including summers on Southport Island through 2008.

Donald Charles Hansen was the son of Daniel and Blanche Hansen. He grew up in Presque Isle and graduated from high school there. He received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the College of Communications at Boston University and did his master's work at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University after winning an American Political Science Foundation fellowship to study intergovernmental relations.

Don was predeceased by his wife of 52 years, Jill, whom he met at his first job at the Boothbay Register when she was then co-owner of The Boothbay Playhouse.

He is survived by two sons, Burnett Hansen of Irvington, New York and Wells Hansen of Taipei, Taiwan as well as two grandsons, Graham and Edward Hansen.

Donations in Don’s memory can be sent to the Southport Memorial Library; P.O. Box 148; 1032 Hendricks Hill Road; Southport, ME 04576-0148, marked “in memory of Donald Hansen.”