Maine lawyer, judge Barry Faber RIP

By Ted Cohen

Barry Faber, complete in his fedora and fancy suits, used to strut around Rockland, Maine as if he were the most important person in the small midcoastal city.

Actually, he probably was.

Faber, 87, who died recently, began his legal career as a young man by marrying into his father-in-law's firm, later becoming the city attorney and then a probate judge.

Though he stuck out in a working-class, smelly fishing town because of his advanced education and formality, Faber wore his arrogance well.

He always had a smile ready and owned a great sense of humor. In other words, he knew who he was but didn't get blown away by his own perch.

When Faber was the local school-board chairman in the mid-1970s, an insurance salesman who carried the school department's policy warned the board about an upcoming price increase.

The salesman became incensed when a newspaper quoted him as saying that the rates were going to "skyrocket."

When the reporter who wrote the story asked Faber about the complaint, Faber replied with a chuckle that the salesman "was at the end of the line when God was handing out brains."

Faber was his own best straight man.

Once when Faber was performing a marriage ceremony he stopped to adjust the groom's brother's tie. It was classic Faber humor.

Sure, Barry Faber had his critics, such as guys whose wives he defended in divorce cases. But to those of us who genuinely enjoyed him, he will be missed.

Faber's full obit here in the Pen Bay Pilot.

Pen Bay Pilot photo