Linda Bean was a conservative activist and philanthropist, as well as the granddaughter of Leon Leonwood Bean, founder of the outdoor wear company L.L. Bean.
- Died: March 23, 2024 (Who else died on March 23?)
- Details of death: Died in Maine at the age of 82.
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Linda Bean’s legacy
Bean was granddaughter to L.L. Bean founder Leon Leonwood Bean, and she served on the company’s board for almost 50 years. However, she also sought to pave her own way in business when she could. She was an advocate for her home state of Maine, running inns and vacation rentals all along the coast and establishing the Perfect Maine brand in 2007. She advocated for the state’s lobster industry, lobbying to have it certified as sustainable in 2013 (the certification was pulled in 2022), and she also owned timber acreage for maple production.
Bean was also a political activist, running for Congress twice as a Republican in 1988 and 1992 and supporting GOP causes. In 2005, she supported the Maine Grassroots Coalition, which lobbied to repeal laws prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. She briefly made waves in 2017 when the Federal Election Commission accused her of making excessive contributions to a political action committee (PAC) she created to support President Donald Trump.
She was also a philanthropist who founded the N.C. Wyeth Research Foundation and Reading Libraries, and supported such organizations as the Brandywine Conservancy and Museum of Art in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, the Maine Historical Society, the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy, and the Portland Museum of Art. In 2020, she was honored as a woman of vision by the Farnsworth Art Museum.
On launching her Perfect Maine brand
“Living in this beautiful place, I came to recognize certain seasonal challenges and needs I could help with.”—from a 2017 interview for Bangor Daily News via Maine Public
Tributes to Linda Bean
Full obituary: ABC News
