Sidney Bahrt

Pembroke – Sidney Bahrt passed away on February 11, 2007 at his Pembroke home. A native New Yorker, he was born in Brooklyn on August 4, 1915. A graduate from Thomas Jefferson High School and Pratt Institute of Fine and Applied Art, he began his career in advertising as an errand boy in 1936, working his way up to manager before serving in WWII with the Corps of Engineers, on assignments in England, France, Luxemburg, and Germany. Returning to New York, Sid started his own company, Agency Arts Associates, specializing in automotive advertising. His client list included Buick, General Motors, GMC Trucks, Frigidaire, Goodyear Tires, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz, Better Homes and Gardens, Texaco, Bulova Watches, and Duncan Hines. Agency Arts was billing $3,600,000 when it was sold to J. Walter Thompson. Sid won several prizes for his own personal artistic pursuits, including the St. Gauden’s Art Medal; he exhibited at the American Water Color Show, the New York Water Color Show, and the Water Color Show at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. His books, A Wilderness of Birds, with a foreward by Roger Tory Peterson, was published by Doubleday. His bird photos explored the beauty of birds in nature rather than species identification. In 1973, Sid met Hazel Margaret Demott, his second wife, on a Botswana safari and the two married soon afterwards, moving to Pembroke, Maine, in 1974. They shared a life-long fascination and curiosity with different cultures around the world. Sid visited twenty-eight countries, traveling to the Galapagos three times, and to India, China, Indonesia, and the Falkland Islands, as well as attending a “sing-sing” in Papua, New Guinea. Bird and wildlife photos he took on his travels were exhibited at the Sierra Club in New York City, the Cornell University Lab, the Fordham University Lincoln Center Library, University of Maine at Orono, and the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor. His photography has graced such publications as Maine Naturalist, the Audubon Magazine, and American Birds. Sid and Haze were also active and committed environmentalists, serving as founding members of the Schoodic Chapter of the Audubon Society and the Quoddy Spill Prevention Group. Sid spearheaded efforts to save the bald eagle, a five-year initiative that involved accompanying Bart the Eagle to fifty-five schools in Washington County. By State appointment, Sid served for five years on the Maine Oil Spill Commission in Augusta. During that time he raised $100,000 so that Eastport could mount an oil spill preparation preparedness program. Over the course of his life, Sidney Bahrt was honored to receive countless awards and citations for his tireless work on various causes. He was known throughout Maine and beyond for his generous philanthropy, particularly to environmental, educational, and cultural organizations. He will be greatly missed by his many, many friends far and near. Sid’s full and wonderful life will be celebrated at 1 p.m. Saturday, February 24 at the Pembroke Elementary School. Arrangements by Mays Funeral Home – Flagg Chapel.


Services:
1:00PM at Pembroke Elementary School on Saturday, February 24th, 2007 (map/driving directions)