Obituary: Professor L. Sandy Maisel Dies at Age 79
He was a scholar, political analyst, and a modern man of letters
Louis Sandy Maisel—legendary Colby College professor, Boston Red Sox and Buffalo Bills loyalist, committed duffer on the golf links of several continents, and lifelong presence in the students he inspired and shaped for a half-century—died Dec. 9, 2024. He was 79.
Maisel, who was known by his middle name, Sandy, was a Buffalo, N.Y., native but as much a Maine institution as the distinctive college where he taught. He was that rare figure, an earnest bow-tied teacher with a whiff of the long-ago academic past melded into a modern man of letters who understood, and interpreted for students and readers of his column, the mysteries of contemporary political life.
He was one part topflight scholar, one part political analyst, one part Mules sports enthusiast, one part self-appointed (and published) golf critic, one part mentor, and one (large) part family man.
Maisel ran for Congress in 1978, and he came in fourth in a field of four, but in the years that followed his defeat—itself fodder for a book that carries the best title of any political memoir of the age, From Obscurity to Oblivion—he came to understand the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the dance of legislation better than most of those who actually were elected to Capitol Hill.
Maisel’s influence extended to the politics of his adopted state, where he became a frequent and respected analyst.
“Sandy was a thoughtful, insightful, and often amusing commentator on the passing pageant of Maine politics for a half- century,” Independent Senator Angus King of Maine said in an interview for this obituary. “He always has held true to his fundamental commitment to the American idea.”
At the center of Maisel’s conception of the American idea was not simply his deep understanding of the country’s history and its politics. It also was his profound commitment to, and unswerving affection for, perhaps the most significant American invention of the past three centuries: the small liberal arts college that cultivates and challenges students through the collision of young people of great promise with professional academicians of great achievement.
“No other faculty member has had the impact on thousands of students who went through Colby,” said David A. Greene, Colby’s president. “He shaped them as students and after graduation. He was a one and only in American higher education and a model of how a college professor can make a difference in students’ lives. It is an unimaginable loss to have Sandy gone.”
Greene said he believed that Maisel attended more alumni weddings than any faculty member in American history. As chair of the Athletic Advisory Committee at Colby for 20 years, he also very likely attended more Colby athletic events than anyone in the College’s history.
“No other faculty member has had the impact on thousands of students who went through Colby. He shaped them as students and after graduation. He was a one and only in American higher education and a model of how a college professor can make a difference in students’ lives. It is an unimaginable loss to have Sandy gone.”
Colby President David A. Greene
Maisel was the founding director of Colby’s Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs and, unlike many academic students of politics, believed in witnessing politics firsthand. He was invited by the Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe to join their correspondents at several national political conventions and enjoyed the banter with reporters and, especially, the dinners they put on their expense accounts, listing the meals and Maisel’s single malt whiskey as “source development.”
The son of Sidney Beck Maisel, a retail furniture executive who operated a legendary store near Buffalo’s famous Broadway Market, and Ruthe (Spero) Maisel, Sandy Maisel was born Oct. 23, 1945, in Buffalo. He attended public schools there until he entered the Nichols School, where he was editor of the yearbook and a varsity athlete.
He moved on to Harvard, where took his degree magna cum laude in government but declined to take Henry Kissinger’s course because the reading list was too imposing. He attended civil rights marches in Boston during the city’s busing controversy and then moved to Columbia, at the time in its own storied phase of upheaval.
Upon earning his Ph.D, the 25-year-old Maisel was hired by Colby on a one-year, non-renewable contract that lasted half a century. At the time, Waterville, Maine, was a mill town with a Hathaway shirt factory and with the fumes from the Scott Paper Co. plant in nearby Winslow. Within days of getting his job at Colby, he had a call from Bill Hathaway, and he met with the Senate candidate and his young aide, Angus King. Hathaway beat Republican Margaret Chase Smith in the 1972 race, and Maisel won the friendship of King. Along the way, he worked for George Mitchell, establishing yet another relationship that redounded to the advantage of both Colby and its students.
In the midst of launching his academic career, Maisel and his first wife, Mary Lou Michael, raised their children, Dana and Josh, in an extended Colby family. When Maisel and the children moved to campus, Mayflower Hill became the space to grow and be surrounded by values of education, exploration, and, of course, athletics.
In 1994 he married Patrice Franko, the love of his life. Their 30-year marriage brought him total fulfillment. Their mutual love of family, Colby and Colby students, of friends, of Great Pond, of golf, and of travel would have filled many lifetimes. They were particularly fortunate to have the opportunity, through two distinguished Fulbrights and teaching in the CBB program, to teach in the Philippines, Brazil, and London. Maisel and Franko treasure the memories of welcoming family, friends, students, and many dear alums to their home on Great Pond for legendary graduation parties, much sought-after invitations to their annual Fourth of July party, Jewish holiday celebrations, and pop-up lakeside cocktails.
He was committed to outdoor life in Maine from his attendance at Camp Kennebec in the 1950s to his living on Great Pond for more than 40 years. He and his wife were accompanied on road walks and lake swims by his golden retrievers, all named after golfers: Nicklaus, Rory, and Jordan. His other preoccupation was the music of Jerry Jeff Walker, who drew the couple and groupie friends to concerts across the country.
Maisel family members show up for each other, and Sandy Maisel fully embraced this value. His loyalty to his family extended to countless trips from Maine to Buffalo to California, and many places in between, so he could witness important life moments. He took great pride in everything family.
Maisel was an active member of Beth Israel Congregation in Waterville and served several terms on the synagogue board, including as president in the 1980s. In 2024 he led the successful $3.7-million dollar Foundation and the Future Capital Campaign that guaranteed the financial stability of the congregation for generations to come.
One of his most enduring projects was as editor of Jews in American Politics, a collection of essays that remains one of the principal resources for students of that topic. He produced several scholarly books on his own and edited several volumes of The Parties Respond: Changes in American Parties and Campaigns, comprised of essays that followed presidential elections.
A distinguished Stanford professor and dear friend of 50 years, political scientist David Brady reflected, “I had been talking to Sandy about his health situation and was reminded of the phrase from the Bible about Moses, which applies to Sandy: ‘His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.’”
Maisel died of an aggressive intestinal cancer. In his last months he was determined, as Winston Churchill put it, to “stay in the pub” till “closing time.” At Maisel’s closing time, his family, friends, and protégés flooded him with concern befitting the final days of a New England legend. The pub would not be the same without him.
In addition to his beloved wife, Patrice, he is survived and will be missed by his grown children, daughter Dana Maisel Anderson (Erik Anderson), son Joshua Louis Maisel (Eden Maisel); grandsons Conrad, Gustaf, Leopold, Weber, and Tyler; 20 nieces and nephews and their partners; many grandnieces and nephews, and a large number of cousins. He will also be missed by his brothers and sisters-in-law, as well as the many friends who became family. He was predeceased in death by two sisters, Patricia Maisel Cotsen and Elizabeth Maisel Schulman.
Sandy Maisel liked to say that accomplished political experts need not know very much—as long as they knew 10 people who did. For scores of renowned political analysts, Maisel was not only one of those 10 but the most consulted, most insightful, and most generous one. For them, as for his students, friends, and family, the loss is enormous. And for the author of this obituary, the number has been reduced to nine.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Franko-Maisel Fund or the Sandy Maisel Fund at the Goldfarb Center, Colby College, or the Sandy Maisel Children’s Fund at Beth Israel.
A memorial will be held at Beth Israel Synagogue in Waterville, Maine, Friday, Dec. 13 at 1:30 p.m and will be live streamed. A spring celebration of life will be held at Colby College Saturday, April 26 at 11 a.m.
—Excerpted from a longer obituary by David Shribman, former executive editor of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Correction: An earlier version of this story misstated the outcome of the 1972 Senate race. Democrat Bill Hathaway defeated Republican Margaret Chase Smith instead of losing to Bill Cohen. It has been corrected.
