Stella & Robert Patten
Robert H. Patten,
District Governor 1991-1992

First District Governor of District 7780
Stella & Robert Patten  

Bob Patten was born in Philadelphia.  At the age of 13, he moved to Hampden Highlands, Maine, where he was graduated from Hampden Academy.  His academic life at the University of Maine was interrupted by World War II.

He attended Bates College for two semesters as part of the U.S. Navy’s V-12 Training Program and later received his commission in the Naval Reserve in Columbia University in New York City.  When discharged, Bob had served on a sub chaser in anti-submarine warfare service and later as personnel officer at the Naval Receiving Station, Great Diamond Island, Portland, Maine.  He returned to University of Maine, where he received a B.A. degree.  He entered graduate school in Colorado where he earned a master degree in communications from the University of Denver.

In 1949, Bob returned to Bangor, Maine where he affiliated with a local radio station, and became news director at that station’s first television channel in Maine.  Later, he was appointed Bangor’s first economic development director which was followed by the position of associate director of the Arthur A. Hauck Capital Fund Drive at the University of Maine-Orono, his alma mater.  While in Bangor, Bob was active in the Community Concerts Association, Bangor Civic Theater, Katahdin Council-Boy Scouts of America and United Way.  He received the American Legion’s meritorious civic service award.

Bob relocated to Portland, and became vice president of business development for a national appraisal company, serving in that capacity throughout the eastern United States.  In 1975, he formed his own appraisal company and has served clients throughout the New England area.

Since 1965, Bob has been an active Rotarian in the Rotary Club of Portland.  He served as the clbu president in 1982-83.  In 1989, Bob was honored by the Portland club when he was named a Paul Harris Fellow.  He has chaired numerous club committees, among them the 15th annual Portland Rotary Crafts Festival committee in 1989-90.

A widely-known civic leader, Bob has been president of the board of the First Radio Parish Church of America and president of the Torch Club of Western Maine.  He is a member of the World Affairs Council of Maine and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce.  He’s a former director of the Portland Chapter, American Red Cross and hi is a member of the state and local Chambers of Commerce.  He also has served a trustee of his church.

Bob and his wife, Stella, reside in the Portland suburb of Cape Elizabeth.  Stella’s career upon graduating from the University of Maine includes teaching high school mathematics for 26 years in Bangor, Cape Elizabeth and South Portland.  Stella also earned a masters degree in education at the University of Maine.  She has been active at her alma mater with a term on its Alumni Council.

Stella was the first woman member of the Town Council of Cape Elizabeth where she and Bob served as chairperson of the town’s Republican committee.  She also served on several Town boards, including budget and charter review committees.  She has been state voter service chairperson for the League of Women Voters, and currently is a volunteer on the annual fund campaign of the Maine Medical Center in Portland.  Stella also served her church, the First Congregational Church in South Portland, in many capacities including trustee and head deaconess.

Bob and Stella Patten have two grown daughters.  Deborah, married, has two young sons and is a pediatric physician in Bath, Maine, where her husband is a physician in internal medicine.  Lisa, a graduate of Yale University, holds a position at Harvard University’s School of Business, where she is business manager of the Business Historical Review.  Recently, Lisa was granted a summer leave of absence to study at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.