David Lee Linney

David “Dave” Lee Linney, 77, a businessman and passionate bluefin tuna fisherman of Cape Neddick, ME, died at Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester, NH on December 23, 2018, from complications of Lewy body dementia. He was born in Springfield, IL on November 4, 1941, the son of Richard Leopold Linney and Lillian Putnam Bradish Linney Biewend. He attended Hazel Dell grade school at Lake Springfield, graduated from The Cambridge School of Weston in Weston, MA, attended University of Maine at Orono where he was a member of Delta Tau Delta, earned a B.S. business degree from MacMurray College in Jacksonville, IL, and an MBA from Indiana University in Bloomington, IN.  He was an officer of First National City Bank in New York City. As a past trustee at Tufts New England Medical Center, David served on The Bingham Program board, a charitable endowment established to promote health and advance medicine in Maine. David was a former member and chairman of the Town of York, ME, planning board. He was a  past Trustee of the Surfpoint Foundation in York.

After leaving New York in 1972, he founded Groundnut Hill Nurseries, Inc. in Cape Neddick during the early years of Maine’s green industry. The wholesale nursery specializes in hardy woody ornamental plant material. David was a two-term president of the Maine Landscape and Nursery Association and a member of the International Plant Propagators, the American Forestry Association and the New England Nurseryman’s Association. David and his wife Rebecca received the Al Dwight Black Life Achievement Award in recognition of outstanding service to the horticulture community in Maine and beyond. Always an advocate for the importance of education, David worked with Southern Maine Technical College and the University of Maine at Orono to provide lecture and scholarship opportunities within their horticulture departments to enrich the student and community experience. A memorial fund in honor of David and Becky’s late son was also created to enhance the art and science connections at Berwick Academy, in South Berwick, ME.

A lobsterman and fisherman in Perkins Cove, ME while in high school and college nurtured decades of being a passionate defender of, and an advocate for, the bluefin tuna harpoon fishery. He participated in the National Geographic documentary, Pursuit of the Giant Bluefin. For more than 30 years, he worked with NOAA and the East Coast Tuna Association to communicate and work with U.S. Senate staff and U.S. congressmen to protect the bluefin tuna resource and economy in the northeast.

Mr. Linney is survived by his wife of nearly 55 years, Genevieve Rebecca Lewis Linney (Springfield, IL),  whom he met in 1962, his daughter Shanlee Danielle Linney and three granddaughters; Mikaylee Marina Ginchereau, Livia Chenel Ginchereau and Breckyn Claire Ginchereau all of Cape Neddick, cousin Peter Keith Bradish (Connie) of Titusville, FL, sister-in-law Frances Rowena Lewis Gerber of Bal Harbour, FL, niece Dr. Hilary Nicole Gerber of Vancouver, WA, and nephews Stephen Ward Gerber II (Patricia) of Hamilton, NJ and Bradley Lewis Gerber (Sarah) of Miami, FL. He was predeceased by his son Christopher Lorin Linney, of Cape Neddick and cousin Mary-Leigh Call Smart, York, ME (formerly of Springfield, IL).

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in David’s memory to the Gulf of Maine Research Institute (http://www.gmri.org/linney).

A celebration of life will be held at Barnacle Billy’s, Etc in Perkins Cove, Ogunquit, ME, Friday, May 24, 2019, from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm.

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