Linda Bean, the Maine outdoor retail heiress of L.L. Bean, who had built her own company to sell other famous Maine products, mainly lobster rolls and seaside rentals, and who was an outspoken conservative in a state with a practice of favoring independent politicians, died on Saturday. She was 82 years old.
Some posthumouswhich didn’t provide a cause or say where she died, was sent by the funeral home handling her burial.
Mrs. Bean was the granddaughter of Leon Leonwood Bean, purveyor of rubber-soled duck boots and plaid flannel shirts that went from hunters to prepps and helped grow the corporate right into a national catalog giant and one among (*82*) largest employers.
One of about 30 female heiresses who serves on the board of a personal company, Ms. Bean has used her wealth to support right-wing causes and politicians, including former President Donald J. Trump; collecting images and goods related to the Wyeth artistic family; and began her business at the age of about 60.
In January 2017, the Federal Election Commission he said it was a contribution the quantity of several tens of hundreds of dollars that Ms. Bean donated to Mr. Trump’s support group, Making America Great Again LLC, exceeded the person donor limit of $5,000. Anti-Trump Group Threatened to Boycott L.L. Bean; the corporate distanced itself from Ms. Bean but didn’t remove her from the board.
Founded in 2007 by Mrs. Bean, Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine began by purchasing a industrial wharf supplying bait to lobster boats and purchasing their catch from the picturesque village of Port Clyde, where she had a house. Her ambition was to mass market lobsters under her own name – as Frank Perdue called chicken – and prevent Maine lobsters from being sent for processing to Canada, which Mrs. Bean considered a socialist country.
She admitted that her forte is marketing, not lobsters.
“I love working with words,” she told The New York Times in 2009, reflecting on menu items like Linda Bean’s Port Clyde Lobster Stew and Linda Bean’s Lobster Cuddlers, a reputation she preferred to explain buttered lobster claws. “Like chicken nuggets – it tells you you’re eating something juicy, not scary,” she said.
Mrs. Bean acquired other lobster wharves in nearby Tenants Harbor and on Vinalhaven Island. She also opened a lobster processing plant in Rockland and established a series of restaurants with locations in Portland, Camden and Freeport, Maine (near the flagship L.L. Bean store), and in Delray Beach, Florida.
In 2016, Ms. Bean and others succeeded in obtaining sustainable certification for (*82*) lobster fishery from an independent group, the Marine Stewardship Council, in what was considered a consumer-friendly coup. (The certificate was there suspended in 2020 on account of lobster’s impact on whales).
Less than a decade after starting her business, Ms. Bean single-handedly accounted for about 5.5 percent of (*82*) lobster catch, in keeping with The Bangor Daily News. As the newspaper reported, she also became “one of the most controversial figures in the country.”
Ms. Bean’s conservative politics were well-known for her two congressional races, her support for far-right social policies and her feuds with the state’s Republican establishment, which she considered too moderate.
For a few years she was an officer of the pp Eagle Forum Educational and Legal Defense Fund, a conservative group founded by Phyllis Schlafly. In 1984, Mrs. Bean raised money for a successful campaign to defeat the state’s Equal Rights Amendment, which banned sex discrimination. In 2005, she supported a campaign to repeal a state law prohibiting discrimination against LGBTQ people, an attempt that resulted in failure.
In February 2021, immediately after the January 6 Capitol riot, Ms. Bean donated $150,000 to a pro-Trump committee, in keeping with the FEC
Linda Lorraine Bean was born on April 28, 1941 in Portland, Maine. Her father, Charles Warren Bean, was a leather and canvas designer for his father’s company. Her mum, Hazel June (Turner) Beans.she was working as a typist at L.L. Bean when she met Charles Bean and later became a member of the L.L. Bean board of directors.
Linda Bean graduated from Antioch College in 1963 with a level in business and accounting. That same yr she married James Raymond Clark. Her second marriage to Verne E. Jones in 1975 ended along with his death in 1985. She married for a 3rd time to Donald L. Folkers from 1990–2007.
She is survived by her sister, Diana Bean; three sons from her first marriage: Nathan, Jason and Kevin Clark; and 4 grandchildren.
In 1992, she told The Times that Mrs. Bean was originally a Kennedy Democrat but was pushed to the suitable by Mr. Jones, her second husband, a farmer nearly forty years her senior who balked at local authority over his property. .
In 1988, she ran for Congress in (*82*) First District, covering the state’s southeastern coast, and lost the Republican primary. Four years later, she won the final election primary, but lost the final election to Democratic incumbent Thomas Andrews.
Mrs. Bean’s love for Port Clyde prolonged beyond the lobster trade. She bought many of the waterfront, including the Port Clyde General Store, the Dip Net restaurant and two inns, in addition to houses which she converted into rental apartments.
Her enthusiasm prolonged to a few generations of artists – N. C. Wyeth, Andrew Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth – whose realistic works have a robust connection to the people and landscapes of the St. Peninsula. George, including Port Clyde, and isolated islands off the beaten path. In addition to collecting their art, after her death Mrs. Bean built a library in Port Clyde to carry books in regards to the clan, the Wyeth Reading Room. She even purchased the Wilmington, Del. townhouse where N. C. Wyeth lived after their wedding in 1906, complete with a bridal bed.
Ms. Bean’s aggressive acquisitions in Port Clyde didn’t at all times sit well with locals, nor did her corporate branding of the Maine coastal lifestyle. Neighbors went to court to shut the library, complaining that it was too large for the power and attracted an excessive amount of traffic, but she prevailed.
She defended her investments in Port Clyde and nearby villages as protecting a valued lifestyle.
“Most people retire of their 60s, but I spent an additional 10 years in St. George, because I care about my community and need to help sustain the lobster, art and tourist hospitality that give this peninsula its special vitality,” she said in interview with The Bangor Daily News in 2017
However, in recent years she withdrew from managing her companies.
In September 2023, a fire at the Dip Net restaurant destroyed it and two of its other waterfront businesses: a general store and an art gallery, where works by NC Wyeth and Jamie Wyeth were lost. The fire also destroyed the office of a boat line company on Monhegan Island.
Ms Bean called the destruction a “devastating blow” and vowed to rebuild as quickly as possible.
