Robert C. Sanford, who ran the Moulton Union dining hall for nine years, died on May 11, 2018, in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Robert Carleton “Carl” Sanford, of Boynton Beach and Damariscotta, passed away peacefully at Bethesda Hospital in Boynton Beach, on May 11,2018.

He was born in New York City on September 1, 1929, the son of Robert Leson and Genevieve Sullivan Leson Sanford Robertson; and the grandson of Eugene and Ida Sullivan (Eugene was the Chairman of the Board of Corning Glass, and was chief chemist who helped discover pyrex glassware).

After serving for four years, Carl was honorably discharged from the US Navy in 1954, and went on to graduate from Paul Smith’s College in upstate New York. After graduation, he was employed by Hotel Corporation of America, which sent him all over the United States, including Lyford Cay in the Bahamas.

He opened the Rib Room in Boston, and while he was there, he saw an ad in the Wall Street Journal for a restaurant named Saltwater Farm Pier, which he bought with his second wife, Katy Jackson Sanford, and ran it for fifteen years.

During the winters, he worked at various restaurants and for Sugarloaf Mountain on the Ski Patrol. He also worked at Bowdoin College for nine years, where he ran the Moulton Union Cafeteria. He then accepted the position as Executive Director of the Maine Restaurant Association, and helped to grow that organization, retiring in 1995.

An avid golfer, Carl played at several world renowned courses including, the Blue Monster at Trump National Doral Golf Club, and PGA National in Palm Beach. He was also an avid tennis player and a cyclist, taking part in the Trek Across Maine for eighteen years, and also cycled twice in Holland during tulip season.

He and his wife, Drusilla French Sanford, enjoyed extensive travel to many foreign destinations. He attended all four of the major tennis tournaments, as well as Davis Cup Ties on a number of occasions. He reveled in his volunteer work for many years at the CLC YMCA, where he also served on the board of directors, Miles Memorial Hospital, and docent duties at the Pemaquid Lighthouse.

Carl was predeceased by his first wife, Patricia; his second wife, Katherine (Katy) Jackson; and his step-daughter, Tally Jackson Vinal.

He is survived by his wife of twenty-three years, Drusilla; son, Robert Sanford Jr. and wife, Andrea, of Ludlow, Vermont; daughter, Barbara Walling of Cape Cod, Massachusetts; stepchildren, Peter Jackson and partner, Lucy Smith, of Damariscotta, Bambi Jackson Hanna of Round Pond, Edward (Tug) Jackson and wife, Jan, of Salisbury, Mass., Kate Jackson Eaton and husband, Jonathan, of Damariscotta; and Frederick Brewer and wife, Jessika Brooks-Brewer, of Damariscotta; son-in-law, John Vinal and wife, Lena, of Edgecomb; sister, Holly Leson Giacalone of Delray Beach, Florida; seventeen grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.