AUGUSTA — Le Club Calumet has selected former Augusta mayor, businessman and philanthropist John C. Bridge for its 2014 Outstanding Citizen Award, Daniel Doiron, club president, announced.

Bridge, now of Manchester and Florida, was mayor in Augusta from 1997 to 1999, and also was a city councilor and school board member.

He took over his family’s business, Bridgecorp, with his brother Dave in the 1970s, remained president of the firm after it was sold to Pike Industries in 2004, and later worked as a consultant for the company until his retirement in 2009.

He has served on the boards of several organizations, including Kents Hill School, and volunteered his time with Green Street United Methodist Church. He also helped raise money to start the Children’s Discovery Museum.

Bridge has led fundraising campaigns, including the effort to raise $10 million to build a new YMCA. He and his family also donated $1.25 million to help build the new YMCA, which opened in 2006.

In 2002 he and his wife, Charlene, were chairman and chairwoman of the annual Kennebec Valley United Way fundraising drive.

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He was named the Maine Philanthropist of the Year in 2005 and, that same year, received the Kennebec Valley Chamber of Commerce’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Bridgecorp was also recognized by the chamber as the Business of the Year in 1982, and Bridge was the chamber’s Business Person of the Year in 1992. He and Charlene were also awarded the 2010 Scout Citizens of the Year award by the Boy Scouts of America.

A dinner banquet to honor Bridge is planned for 6 p.m. May 31 at the club. Tickets are $20 and may be obtained by calling Norman Veilleux at 441-1062. Tickets will not be sold at the door, according to club officials.

Bridge is the 38th recipient of Le Club Calumet’s Outstanding Citizen Award, which started in 1965 to honor a non-Franco-American for his or her outstanding service and contributions to the community.

The club has a separate award, the Medaille d’Honneur, to recognize a Franco-American and club member for outstanding service to the community.


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