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A former lawyer who shifted gears to become a sustainability author and Earth Day organizer has become the seventh recipient of an annual community service award named for Harpswell volunteer Walter H. “Doc” Phillips.
Fred Horch received the Brunswick Rotary award on Oct. 8 at the Harpswell Town Office, where his name will join those of earlier honorees on a plaque in the lobby.
“Thank you so much,” Horch said at the ceremony. “I’m so honored and pleased to carry on Doc’s memory and service to the community.”
Phillips worked in a family real estate company in Watertown, Massachusetts, before moving with his wife, Joan, to Harpswell in 1982, after their four children had left the nest. Phillips enjoyed his retirement years as a gentleman farmer raising ducks, sheep, horses, chickens, peacocks and bees.
But his passion lay in his volunteer efforts with the Rotary and promoting environmental conservation, community healthcare, and English education for recent immigrants, to name just a few of his endeavors. He died in 2019, just shy of his 94th birthday.
The award ceremony came just three weeks after what would have been Phillips’ 101st birthday. His wife, Joan, was among those who celebrated Horch and her late husband’s memory.
“I feel the warmth of the love that’s expressed in this award,” she said. Asked how long she and her husband had been married, she said, “Not long enough — only 66 years.”
After a brief career as a corporate lawyer, award recipient Horch shifted his career focus to sustainability work in the 1990s. The Brunswick resident founded a sustainable living store in Brunswick and an electrical contracting firm focused on helping companies use clean energy. He organized Brunswick’s first annual Earth Day celebration in 2026.
He and Peggy Siegle launched a partnership called Sustainable Practice and, with Siegle as editor, authored “Sustainable Practices: Your Handbook for Effective Action,” which Brunswick Rotary Club President Carolyn Bulliner called “the bible on sustainability.”
“There was absolutely no question that Fred was the right person for the award this year,” Bulliner said.
