Tom Bradbury is a lifelong Mainer. His family on his mother’s side goes back to a house built here in 1735. Bradbury graduated in the Class of 1969 from Kennebunk High School, where he excelled in basketball and track & field. He earned his degree in education from the University of Maine at Orono. Throughout his childhood, Bradbury worked at Cape Porpoise’s Bradbury Bros. Market, a small independent grocery store founded by Bradbury’s grandfather in 1944—a store Bradbury himself would come to co-own with his cousin Stedman Seavey in 1990 and run until 2005, when Bradbury sold his majority interest. He continues to seasonally manage the Market’s sister store (Goose Rocks Beach General Store) and has been a board member and officer of the Associated Grocers of New England.
In addition to writing more than 250 local history articles for various newspapers and magazines, Bradbury has edited and written several books. His community service has been extensive, including being a member, trustee or officer of the Atlantic Hall Education Association, The Brick Store Museum, The Church on the Cape, Kennebunkport Board of Selectmen, Kennebunkport Growth Planning Committee, Kennebunkport Historical Society, Ramanascho Land Preservation Trust, River Tree Center for the Arts, and Salt Magazine. He is a longtime Rotarian and member of the Arundel Lodge of Masons. He currently sits on the Board of Advisors for the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and for the University of New England’s Committee for the George and Barbara Bush Cultural Center.
Bradbury has led the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust since 1979 and in 2005 became its full-time executive director. Since the Trust’s inception, it has protected more than 70 properties through direct purchase, donations and easements. For his commitment to preserving southern Maine’s landscape—from its islands and wetlands to its wildlife corridors—he has won numerous distinctions, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Environmental Protection Agency.
|
