Arthur Otis Putnam, Jr. ’44 died on October 7, 2007, in Houlton, Maine.

Born on January 15, 1922, in Houlton, he prepared for college at Ricker Classical Institute and became a member of Delta Kappa Epsilon Fraternity at Bowdoin, which he attended from 1940-43. He enlisted in the U.S. Army during World War II and served with the 692nd Field Artillery Battalion. Following the war, he attended Ricker Junior College and then joined Putnam Brothers Company as a sales representative. He became sales manager there in 1955, and was named president in 1970, a position he held until his retirement. He served on the board of trustees for Ricker College, the Ricker Scholarship Fund, and the Houlton Fair Association. He was a past president of Houlton Regional Development Corporation and the Houlton Rotary Club, was the recipient of the Paul Harris Fellowship Award, and was the general chairman of the Houlton Sesquicentennial in 1957. In 1968, he was elected president of the Ricker Alumni Association and received the Outstanding Service to Ricker Award in 1970. His wife, Lona Taggett Putnam, died in 1993. He is survived by a daughter, Keaton Putnam Ells of Hampton, N.H.; two sons, Christian Taggett Putnam of Houlton and Kimball Temple Putnam of Windham, N.H.; six grandchildren; and a brother, Mellen Pearce Putnam of Houlton.