Longtime legislator Kneeland also led potato industry, lived civic life
EASTON, Maine — Richard “Dick” Kneeland, who recently died at age 82, left behind a legacy of work in the rural economy.
The former head of the Maine Potato Board, Easton select board member, state representative and senator “was a true statesman and a great friend,” said U.S. Senator Susan Collins in a statement. “Dick’s years of passionate public service reflected his deep commitment to the people of Maine, Aroostook County, the town of Easton, and to agriculture in our state.”
Kneeland grew up in Easton, graduated high school in 1951, married in 1955 and started what would become a long career in in farming and government. He was elected to the Easton select board in 1974, would remain on it for 20 years, and was credited with helping bring Huber Engineered Woods to Easton in 1982.
During the 1980s, he worked with various farm agencies and groups during a tumultuous time for potato farming. A fourth generation farmer, Kneeland also continued growing processing potatoes and was named one of McCain Food’s top 10 growers.
In 1986, as he led the newly-formed Maine Potato Board as president, Kneeland outlined the challenges ahead for potato farming and Maine’s other natural resource industries — including “tough competition with heavily subsidized foreign imports as well as domestic industries.”
He called for research and technology, value-added natural resource businesses, finding new markets, and hardy determination.
“We can not sit back and hope that government can create a favorable economic environment in which we can do business. We must act to make our industries more competitive and create an environment in which they can grow,” Kneeland said.
As he was running for state representative in 1992, Kneeland called for term limits, a focus on economic development and right-sized government.
“State bureaucracy should be no larger than what we can afford to get the job done,” he said at the time.
Kneeland also bolstered the idea of the Presque Isle bypass to better integrate regional transportation for industrial traffic. His original vision, a short connection from Route 163 to Conant Road, is now set to become the first phase of a bypass.
Editor’s note: A complete obituary can be found in the obituary section.