A Profound Sense of Loss
‘The walking embodiment of Colby’—the College reflects on the legacy of Professor L. Sandy Maisel
The Colby community reacted to the passing of L. Sandy Maisel, the Goldfarb Family Distinguished Professor of Government, Emeritus, with a mix of mourning for an individual who had a profound influence on generations of students and a sense of admiration for a life fully lived and one full of meaningful and lasting relationships.
Maisel, 79, died Dec. 9, 2024, at his home in Rome, Maine, after being diagnosed with an aggressive intestinal cancer.
A presence on campus for more than 50 years, Maisel was earnest and passionate. He was a proud citizen of Maine, active in politics, and committed to his Jewish community. He was also Colby’s biggest sports fan, and he 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,” said President David A. Greene. “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.”
Bow-tied, proper, and playful, Maisel was such a campus superstar that he was the rare professor whom everyone knew simply as “Sandy,” said broadcast journalist, political analyst, and Colby Trustee Amy Walter ’91.
“I don’t know that I ever addressed him, nor did I hear anyone else at the College address him, as Professor Maisel. He was just ‘Sandy.’ Like Elvis. Or, Pelé. Tell anyone involved with Colby—whether they’d been on campus a couple of years or graduated 40 years ago—that you were meeting with ‘Sandy’ and they knew exactly who he was. Like Elvis, he was larger than life. But, with a bowtie instead of rhinestones,” Walter wrote in an email.
Now the publisher and editor-in-chief of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, she said she feels Maisel’s influence on her work today.
“Sandy’s enduring presence in my life for the last 37 years has been a gift. It is hard to imagine Colby without him there. And yet, I am comforted by the knowledge that he lives on in the thousands of students who, like me, carry on his legacy.”
A model Colby professor
Maisel joined Colby’s faculty in 1971 after earning a bachelor’s in government, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and a doctorate from Columbia University. He was nationally known for his scholarship on American political parties and elections, political campaigns, and Jews in American politics, writing or editing numerous books, compilations, journal articles, and book chapters. Visiting positions included professorships at Harvard and Stanford universities, fellowships at the University of London and the Brookings Institute, and two Fulbright scholarships in the Philippines and Brazil.
“Sandy was one of the most consequential and influential faculty members I have known in my many years at Colby,” said Provost and Dean of Faculty Margaret McFadden. “He was a powerful advocate for the views of faculty on many matters, and he shaped this place in many important ways.”
While he was known across campus, it was the Government Department where he had the most influence and led as chair for 21 years. In 2003 he became founding director of Colby’s Goldfarb Center.
“In his 50 years on the faculty, Sandy became an icon and served for many of us as a model of what it means to be a Colby professor,” said Joe Reisert, the Harriet S. and George C. Wiswell Jr. Professor of American Constitutional Law and chair of the Government Department. “A passionate and dedicated instructor, Sandy inspired generations of students to study political science and, in his long career, supervised dozens of senior honors theses and employed scores of research assistants.”
As a colleague, he modeled how to “truly love one’s job, how to make a workplace a community, and how to gather friends as family,” said Jennifer Yoder, the Robert E. Diamond Professor of Government and Global Studies. “His door was always open, and he offered a hello and smile to everyone he passed in the hall or met at the coffeemaker. He was a friend through thick and thin.”
‘Sandy had a plan’
Trustee Emeritus William Goldfarb ’68 said Maisel was the key to the early and sustained success of the Goldfarb Center. As the center’s founding director, Maisel was responsible for building the center’s programming and enacting the vision of Goldfarb and others.
“The goal was to create an intellectual outlet outside of the classroom, but we didn’t have a lot of detail. We had a concept, but Sandy had the plan. He built the center in his vision, and the key to the center then, as it is now, is how involved the students are,” Goldfarb said, adding with a laugh, “In his very shy and retiring manner, he enlisted students to become not only participants but leaders in the center.”
He empowered students by creating a student governing board and encouraged them to take ownership of the center’s events by spreading the word among the student body. “He made sure the campus was aware of what he was trying to do, and he got the kids to participate,” Goldfarb said. “Many times, he would combine it with dinner, so it was more than an event. It was a happening. He was creating excitement, and people wanted to be part of it.”
The center’s current executive director, Alison Beyea, said Maisel encouraged her with words and action. Beyond offering advice based on his experience, Maisel showed up for Goldfarb Center events, including as recently as this fall when the center hosted a high-profile In the News speaker series focused on current events.
“I will always be grateful for his generosity and his savvy political sense,” Beyea said. “Sandy was proud of what he built at the Goldfarb Center and all it has contributed to the Colby community. And rightly so. I hear from alumni all the time about how important Sandy and the Goldfarb Center were to their time on campus and beyond. Sandy leaves an enormous legacy both through the Goldfarb Center as well as the thousands of students who benefited from his wit and wisdom.”
His commitment to the Goldfarb Center and the Government Department is part of his legacy. In 2020, he and his wife, Patrice Franko, Colby’s Grossman Professor of Economics and Global Studies, established the Franko-Maisel Prize for Public Policy through the Goldfarb Center, and Maisel also funded the Sandy Maisel Student Internship Grant.
‘If you had a question, you should ask it’
Maisel had an uncanny ability to identify students with great potential and find ways to involve them. That included political consultant, CEO of VOX Global, and Colby Trustee Emeritus Robert Hoopes ’89, who first met Maisel in 1985 in his GOV 101 class.
“Little did I appreciate the brilliant, sentimental, and incredible mentor and touchstone Sandy was to so many and would become to me, and to my own children,” Hoopes wrote in an email. “As a young graduate, he recruited me to sit together on the Goldfarb Center’s board, and later we both served on Colby’s Board of Trustees. These were front-row seats to witness Sandy’s passion for academic excellence and his passion for and contributions to the unique spirit of the Colby community.”
Lisa Kaplan ’13 said Maisel believed in Colby students and made Colby a place where they didn’t just learn academics. “He made it normal that if you had a question, you should ask it; if you had an idea, you should say it; and if you wanted to do something that you were in no way qualified to do because you hadn’t done it before, you should definitely go for it.”
In 2019 Kaplan heeded that advice and started Alethea, an innovative company that helps protect organizations from disinformation, misinformation, and social media manipulation. The entrepreneur credits Maisel and Franko for urging her forward. “It was Patrice who gave me the nudge to start a company, and then it was Sandy who introduced me to every trustee or alum he thought could help and possibly mentor me to help me figure it out,” Kaplan said. “He knew when to be direct, when to ask questions, and when to nudge.”
Family, community, music—and sports
Maisel and his first wife, Mary Lou Michael, raised their children on campus. In 1994 he married Franko, and together they welcomed members of the Colby community to their home on Great Pond to celebrate graduation, Jewish holidays, and other events.
Maisel’s passions extended beyond academics and politics. Another thread throughout his life was the music of Jerry Jeff Walker, the Texas troubadour whom Maisel befriended and helped bring to campus for a concert, and sports. An avid sports fan—he was born in Buffalo but cheered for the Red Sox—he was chair of the Athletic Advisory Committee at Colby for 20 years.
After he retired from teaching in 2021, he continued working at Colby as the faculty athletics representative. In this role, he was a valuable resource when athletics and academics overlapped. He could speak to faculty members, coaches, and student athletes from a place of understanding as he experienced and witnessed many of those positions.
He loved being part of the staff and often came into the office and to departmental meetings to stay connected. He was also a true fan, following each of the teams, attending events, and watching live streams.
“No one in the past six decades gave more to Colby athletes and coaches via game attendance, advice, and friendship than Sandy,” said former men’s basketball coach Dick Whitmore. “He and I began our 50-plus-year friendship on the Colby soccer field when he helped me coach first-year students. A lifelong friendship and hours of conversation made for a learning experience I will always treasure.
“As we traveled the country, most of the time with [our wives] Patrice and Mary Kay to follow the music of Jerry Jeff Walker, we thoroughly enjoyed life. Sandy will be missed by generations of students, colleagues, and friends, none more than us in Athletics.”
A commitment to Waterville’s Jewish community
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 The Foundation and the Future capital campaign that guaranteed the financial stability of the congregation.
“Sandy was the perfect person to lead our synagogue campaign. He very much believed in the potential and the importance of Beth Israel’s future,” said Rabbi Rachel Isaacs, the Dorothy “Bibby” Levine Alfond Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies and spiritual leader of Beth Israel. “He held the past and made our future possible. He’s our gentle giant, and the Jewish community of Waterville is in a place of strength due to Sandy’s vision, hard work, and commitments to the Jewish people, Waterville, and Colby.”
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, composed of essays that followed presidential elections.
The end of an era
Maisel’s dynamic personality, big heart, and booming voice resonated across campus and matched his unwavering support for students, colleagues, and the larger community. He was truly the walking embodiment of Colby.
“I so appreciate his love for Colby and his commitment to enabling students to do great things in the world,” concluded McFadden. “I will miss him and his infectious optimism about the power of a Colby education to change people’s lives very much.”
In addition to his wife, Patrice Franko, he is survived by his daughter, Dana Maisel Anderson, and son, Joshua Louis Maisel, and five grandsons.
A spring celebration of life will be held at Colby Saturday, April 26, 2025, at 11 a.m.
