Nicholas Remsen Cowenhoven Sr.

Nicholas Remsen Cowenhoven, Sr. died Friday, at his home, in Thornton Oaks, Brunswick. He was 89.

He was born Dec. 27, 1917, in New Brunswick, N.J., the son of Charles T. (Jr.) and Emily Kearny Rodgers Cowenhoven. He grew up in Princeton, N.J. and attended Princeton Country Day School and St. George's School in Newport, R.I. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and served aboard B-29 bombers flying missions in the Pacific. After the war, he resumed undergraduate studies at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, earning a B.A. in economics in 1947. He later earned an M.A. in economics from Columbia University, New York, and an M.Ed. from Clark University in Worcester, MA. He taught English, business writing and economics for many years at Becker Junior College in Worcester. His interests at this time also included drama, and he directed many college productions at Becker and several Easter Passion plays on behalf of Worcester's Catholic community. For several years, he was a correspondent for the Worcester Telegram. In the late 1960s he became interested in video production and he formed Vidicon Associates to pursue commercial and public access programming.

He married Frances S. Sawtell of Chestnut Hill, Mass., in 1946. They lived for many years in Grafton, where he was active in the Unitarian Church. In retirement, they moved to York, Maine, where he was an active volunteer at York Hospital and the York Public Library, and then to Thornton Oaks, a retirement community in Brunswick.

He leaves his wife of 60 years, Frances S. Cowenhoven; four children, Nicholas (Jr.) and Anne Cowenhoven of York, ME, Margaret S. Cowenhoven of Wayland, MA, Andrew and Liza Cowenhoven of Concord, N.H., and Emily C. and Richard Searle of Newburyport, MA; two sisters, Margaretta R. Cowenhoven and Mary C. Coyle, both of Chestertown, Md.; six grandchildren, many nephews and nieces.

Family and friend will gather for an informal remembrance at Thornton Oaks on Thursday, Aug. 30, at 2 p.m. Donations in his memory may be made to the New England Forestry Foundation, PO Box 1346, Littleton, Mass. 01460. Arrangements are by Stetson's Funeral Home, 12 Federal St., Brunswick, ME and memorial condolences may be expressed at

stetsonsfuneralhome.com