Madeleine G. “Maddy” Corson, shown on the Maine coast in this undated family photo, was known as a caring business leader and a generous philanthropist. Photo courtesy of Corson family

She was the executive who gave hugs to all her employees. The fierce advocate for family-owned businesses even after she sold her own. The generous benefactor who delighted in introducing children to the arts, especially theater.

Maddy Corson, shown here at an awards dinner in 1996, is remembered as a business leader who cared for her employees and as a generous philanthropist. Press Herald file photo

Madeleine G. “Maddy” Corson, the granddaughter of Maine media mogul Guy P. Gannett who oversaw the state’s largest news publishing company in the 1990s, which included the Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel, and was a prominent philanthropist and civic leader, died Monday.

She was 87.

Corson, who lived for years on Littlejohn Island in Yarmouth, recently had been diagnosed with lung cancer and received hospice care at her home for more than a month.

In an interview Tuesday, Ben Corson said his mother spent much of that time calling people whose lives intersected with hers over the years.

“When you have this type of scenario, you sort of get to say goodbye to people,” he said. “I was with her one day and she was calling people and at one point said, ‘I only have 1,938 more calls to make.’ I’m lucky if I have nine calls to make. She was the most social person I’ve ever known.”

Corson was born in 1935 to Creighton E. Gatchell and Alice Gannett. Her mother, one of three children of media executive Guy Gannett, died just 11 days after Maddy was born. Creighton later married Henrietta Farnham, who helped raise Corson.

Corson’s early life was shaped by the publishing industry, but she didn’t take on a prominent role until much later. She was trained as a school teacher but spent most of her time as a mother to four children and homemaker wife to a college professor.

Eventually, though, she too would join her grandfather’s media empire in various roles. At its height, Guy Gannett Publishing (later Guy Gannett Communications) owned five newspapers as well as radio stations and television stations in Maine, Massachusetts, Iowa and Illinois.

In 1994, Corson took over as chair of the company after her aunt, Jean Gannett Hawley, died.

Jim Shaffer, who served as president and CEO of Guy Gannett Communications under Corson, called her an amazing person.

“She made it not just OK, but she encouraged me to embrace love as a corporate value,” he said.

Shaffer, who later became dean of the business school at the University of Southern Maine, said Corson was not interested in maximizing profits as an executive, especially if it meant making cuts elsewhere.

“Maddy loved her people,” he said.

He also said Corson never shied away from publishing stories that might be controversial.

“She would say, ‘If we make some enemies, too bad,’” he recalled.

Shaffer visited Corson at her home a few weeks ago and was struck by how at ease she was.

“She didn’t want a memorial because she didn’t want her family to worry about having to all be on the same page,” he said. “That’s the kind of person she was, always thinking of others.”

Bill Nemitz, a longtime columnist for the central Maine newspapers, knew Corson for decades.

“She was a constant figure at the paper before she became publisher but really ramped it up at that point,” he said. “I would say she was not your average publisher or owner. Usually, when someone on high would come down to the newsroom, everyone would stiffen up or worry about saying the wrong thing. But Maddy, she went around and gave hugs and asked people about their families. She was really more of a mother to the newspaper.”

Ben Corson said his mother’s nurturing instincts were her “superpower.”

Maddy Corson in 2010 Press Herald file photo

Nemitz kept in touch with Corson after she left the paper in 1998 and later served on the committee for a journalism scholarship she founded. He said the thing that stood out most about Corson was her humility.

“Almost to a fault, she was humbled by her position in that she would never try to present herself as a journalist or expert,” he said. “But at the same time, she had the strongest appreciation for what journalism can do as anyone I’ve known.”

Nemitz was among the people who got a call from Corson a few weeks ago out of the blue.

“Of course, I was taken aback because it was clear she was calling to say goodbye,” he said. “And that immediately put a lump in my throat, but she was very much at peace. She was ready.”

Guy Gannett Communications sold its newspapers in Maine to the Seattle Times Co. in 1998 for an estimated $200 million, at a time when newspapers were quite profitable. Soon after, the company unloaded most of its television stations, including WGME in Portland, to Sinclair Broadcast Group for more than $300 million, according to reports at the time.

Ben Corson, who was on the board then, said the family was fortunate to sell at a time when value was at its peak.

After the sale, she devoted her time to numerous charitable causes, including the Boys and Girls Club, the Maine Aquarium, the Abyssinian Church and the Victoria Mansion, among others. Her family said that during the most active decades of her philanthropic career, Corson donated money (and often time) to more than 200 Maine-based nonprofit organizations annually.

Her honors and awards could fill a room and included a distinguished achievement award from the University of Southern Maine, induction into the Maine Business Hall of Fame, the Henri A. Benoit Award from the Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce, a lifetime achievement award from the Maine Association of Nonprofits and a woman of achievement award from the YWCA.

“From when she sold the company through 2017, I don’t think she had any savings. She gave so much of her money away,” her son said.

Her biggest passion might have been the Children Museum & Theater of Maine. Before the theater merged with the museum in 2008, Corson’s financial support single-handedly kept the theater going. The new museum and theater at Thompson’s Point includes “Maddy’s Theater,” which her family calls the crown jewel of her philanthropy.

Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine donor Maddy Corson talks with attendees at an event to announce details about the museum’s fundraising campaign and reveal plans for its new building under construction at Thompson’s Point in February 2020. Brianna Soukup/Staff Photographer

Julie Butcher Pezzino, executive director of the museum, remembers meeting Corson for the first time during her job interview five years ago.

“People told me I was going to meet Maddy, and it felt like I was going to meet the pope. I was very nervous,” Pezzino said. “But she immediately put me at ease. She was so lovely and kind and generous with her thoughts.”

Pezzino said Corson’s love of the arts and especially watching children fall in love with the arts was evident.

“I think it truly dated back to her own childhood when she participated as a kid. She believed very deeply that children should have the ability to experience professional theater,” Pezzino said.

Corson also used her wealth to fund a scholarship for Maine college students studying journalism that’s named after her grandfather. Since the Guy P. Gannett scholarship was founded in 2001, more than $4 million has been awarded.

She also was instrumental in founding the Institute for Family-Owned Businesses, which advocates for family businesses and hands out awards every year for excellence, including one named in her honor.

Corson is survived by three of her children, as well as several grandchildren.

Porter said Corson always treated her employees like family, even after she sold the papers. He remembers running into her some years later and telling her that he was planning his wedding and looking for a venue.

“She immediately said, ‘Come do it at my house in Yarmouth!’” he recalled. “I didn’t do that, but that was her first reaction.”

Kim Block, a longtime anchor at WGME in Portland, first met Corson professionally, but they eventually became good friends.

“From the beginning, Maddy was the most accessible, down to earth and compassionate CEO I’ve ever met,” Block said. “For one thing, she never missed an opportunity to give out hugs, enveloping you in her warmth and generosity. She became a role model for me, always demonstrating the importance of community involvement and philanthropy.”

Block said anytime she was with Corson in public, people would always stop to say hello and often thank her for something she had done for them.

She spoke with Corson last week and knew, even though it was left unsaid, that it likely would be the last time.

“But I got to tell her how much she has meant to me. How her support helped guide my career and how having her in my life made me a better person,” Block said.

Reflecting on his mother’s legacy both as an executive and as a philanthropist, Ben Corson said her impact was outsized and won’t soon be forgotten.

“She really did light up a room,” he said. “She had this tremendous positive energy, almost to a preternatural degree.”