ARTHUR E. STROUT (1935-2025)
U.S. ATTORNEY
The son of celebrated Maine attorney Alfred Meserve Strout and immigrant Olive Edwards, Arthur grew up in Thomaston and spent summers on Clark Island, according to his obituary. Arthur died at age 89 in February 2025.
Like his father, Arthur graduated from Bowdoin College and received his Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law. After befriending future Senator George Mitchell and clerking at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, Strout joined the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Following a distinguished tenure in Washington, Strout returned to Maine in the 1970’s and established the august Rockford firm Strout & Payson. He served as chairman of the Board of Bar Examiners of Maine for several years and was a longtime board member of Camden National Bank.
In a 1967 Congressional hearing on D.C. representation via “home rule,” Arthur Strout, testifying as Chairman of the Home Rule Committee of Americans for Democratic Action, withstood blistering attacks - even against Maine itself - from a House of Representatives loathe to give up power. His poise on the hottest of hot seats has not been lost to history.