BRUNSWICK — Thomas E. Bailey Jr., 72, of Green Street, died April 18 at Mid Coast Hospital.

He was born Aug. 22, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Thomas E. Bailey Sr. and Rita Dennisleigh Bailey.

He was a graduate of Brooklyn Preparatory School and earned a bachelor’s degree from Fordham University. He later became a Shakespeare scholar at Queens College, where he received his master’s in degree in English. He completed further graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Bailey married Elizabeth Reeve on June 27, 1970, in North Andover, Massachusetts.

He came to Maine in 1968 to teach English at the University of Maine, Orono. There, he co-founded a program in poetry, was the host of two shows on MPBN radio, and organized early-music studies at the college.

Bailey founded the Music and Recorder Centre (later known as Sirius Music) in 1974 to sell early-music instruments. In the mid-1980s, he started renting violins, and eventually helped to establish and support many school music programs before retiring in 2013.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth C. Bailey, of Brunswick; his mother, of Brunswick; and a son, Samuel T. Bailey, of Brooklyn, New York, and his partner, Aiko.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 2, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 27 Pleasant St., Brunswick.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Coastal Humane Society, 30 Range Road, Brunswick, ME 04011, or to the Oasis Free Clinic, 66 Baribeau Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011.

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