Ronnie LeClair, who as a co-founder and leader of Harpswell’s first lobster co-op helped shift economic power from buyers to fishermen, died on Nov. 22 at the age of 91.
The Harpswell Neck resident was also a lifelong athlete. He was a basketball star in high school and later a competitive bowler.
Ronnie and several other fishermen started the Interstate Lobster co-op on Ash Point in 1974, having grown frustrated with the price they were getting for their catch.
Co-ops give members more control over the prices they sell their lobsters for, and they divide profits among their members. At the time, there were none near Harpswell.
Ronnie was the first president of Interstate Lobster. Brian Marden, of Harpswell Neck, was another of the original members. “We were pretty much at the mercy of the dealers,” he said, and lobstermen had even organized strikes.
Before they founded the co-op, Marden said he, Ronnie and two others had an idea to buy bait directly in Canada rather than through a dealer. The plan didn’t work out — maybe because none of them spoke enough French to understand the men they were trying to deal with. But it gave them some momentum to try their hand at a co-op.
“He played a huge role in getting Interstate on its feet and going,” said Brian Moody, the current president of the organization. “He was a phenomenal businessman. And he caught a lot of lobsters.”
Marden said the members of Interstate worked well together. He recalled that some other early co-ops fell apart because of infighting.
He said Ronnie was straightforward and honest, and he would trust him with his life.
Ronnie was known for giving nicknames to other fishermen. Son Gary LeClair said he’d give you one whether you liked it or not. If you didn’t, he’d only say it more.
Marden said he couldn’t share the name Ronnie gave him, but he remembered that the late Cliff Moody’s nickname was “Seaweed,” after Ronnie claimed he had seen Moody at the beach, using seaweed to try to cover his bald spot.
Ronnie and his wife, Jean, had three children: sons Gary and Greg and daughter Lisa.
Gary, of Harpswell, said his dad worked hard and played hard. The former Brunswick High School basketball standout stayed active even after a stroke slowed him down at age 50. He bowled until his late 80s.
Gary remembers his father closely guarding the secrets to his lobstering success. On winter days, the two would be devising new trap heads — the place where lobsters enter a trap — in their shop. If they heard a car coming up the drive, they’d quickly run to meet it, lest the visitor get a glimpse of Ronnie’s designs.
Greg LeClair, of Richmond, said his father “loved the natural beauty of the world, especially flowers and ducks, and he would sit for hours on his deck watching the water and islands.”
Ronnie was also a fan of Maine State Music Theatre, buying season tickets after seeing a performance of “Kinky Boots.”
Greg said it took many years for his father to accept his sexual orientation. But he said Ronnie loved Greg’s husband, Michael Greene, from the first time Ronnie met him, and he made Greene feel welcome in their family.
The family plans to spread Ronnie’s ashes on Mink Rock, beyond Eagle Island. Gary said that in his father’s last moments, he told his son there was a flight of ducks coming over the tidal ledge.
