ROLDE, Neil 1931-

PERSONAL: Born July 25, 1931, in Boston, MA; son of L. Robert (a building contractor) and Lillian (a homemaker; maiden name, Lewis) Rolde; married Carlotta Florsheim; children: Claudia Sanchez, Nicolette Wilford, Andrea, Danielle, Annis. Education: Yale University, B.A.; Columbia University, M.S. Politics: Democrat. Religion: Jewish. Hobbies and other interests: Underwater photography, nature.

ADDRESSES: Home—8 Old Seabury Rd., Box 304, York, ME 03909.

CAREER: State of Maine, assistant to Governor Kenneth M. Curtis, 1966-72; member of Maine House of Representatives, 1972-90; self-employed investor; town moderator for York, ME. Has worked for the Maine Health Care Reform Commission, Maine Humanities Council, Maine Arts Commission, Governor's Task Force on Oceanography and Human Rights, Maine Children's Alliance, York County homeless shelters, York County community action board, Maine Public Broadcasting Corporation (chairman of the board), University of New England, York Hospital, Training Development Corporation, Bigelow Oceanographic Laboratory (chairman of the board), Gulf of Maine Aquarium Development Corporation (vice chairman), Seacoast Shipyard Association (chairman of the board).

AWARDS, HONORS: Dean's prize, Yale University, for creative writing; Neal W. Allen, Jr. History Award, The Maine Historical Society, 1998, for The Baxters of Maine.

WRITINGS:

York Is Living History, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 1976.

Sir William Pepperrell of Colonial New England, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 1979.

So You Think You Know Maine, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 1986.

Maine: A Narrative Story, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 1990.

Your Money or Your Health, Paragon House (New York, NY), 1992.

An Illustrated History of Maine, Maine State Museum (Augusta, ME), 1995.

The Baxters of Maine, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 1998.

The Maine North Woods: A Narrative History, Tilbury House (Gardiner, ME), 2001.

SIDELIGHTS: Neil Rolde told CA: "Most of my adult life has been spent in public service, as a gubernatorial assistant and an elected legislator. In 1990, I was the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Maine, a deep underdog against a popular Republican incumbent. In this campaign, I was one of the first in the country to raise the issue of the need for health care reform. Although I didn't win, the pundits were astonished at how well I did do. Two years later, Harris Wofford used the issue to win a major upset in his senate race. Some people say my timing was off a bit.

"Out of my interest in health care came a book, Your Money or Your Health, perhaps again a bit off in timing since it pre-dated Clinton, but valuable, I feel, for its historic perspective on the health care controversy in the U.S. I have now been appointed to a three-person health care reform commission to devise health care legislation for the state of Maine.

"History has been my principal love and activity in writing; to date, my histories have been about Maine."