Robert Filgate

Robert Michael Filgate was born on October 26, 1942, in Washington, DC, the middle child of George and Irene Filgate. He died at an area hospital near his home in Biddeford, Maine at age 82 on June 16, 2025, due to complications from a fall during a brief illness.

After the family moved to Seagirt, New Jersey in the 1940s Bob and his older brother, George, helped build the family home, mixing cement by hand while their father laid concrete block. His childhood was filled with biking, swimming, and sailing. At Manasquan High School, he took up trumpet, was in the band, and was selected for the New Jersey All-State band.

After high school, with his love of music and the United States, Bob joined the Navy, playing trumpet in the Navy Band. Upon his discharge, he used the GI bill to attend Kent State University in Ohio. While there he obtained a degree in music education as well as a Master’s degree in Library Science.

At Kent State, he met his future wife, Janeth Riedel. They married on August 21, 1965. They started their married life in Ohio, where Bob worked at the Oberlin College Library of Music. They moved to Connecticut and then to Maine when Bob was offered a job as the director of the McArthur Library in Biddeford. Maine was appealing as his sister Carol and his brother-in-law John had relocated there in 1973. Bob had a 30-year career at the McArthur Library, retiring in 2004. One of his greatest achievements at the library was advocating for and overseeing a renovation project to make the library accessible to all.

Bob and Jan had two children, Jason, born in 1973, and Laura in 1975. They were born on the same day in October, making their birthday both easy to remember and extra celebratory.

In 1974 Bob and Jan purchased 20 acres of land and began building their family home in Biddeford. Built by Bob and Jan themselves, along with their friends, the house was Infamous among their teenage children’s friends for the fact that it originally had a composting toilet. In the 1980s they installed modern plumbing and expanded the original house to include a dining and family room. Their children were very relieved by this change.

Bob happily embraced his children’s hobbies, cheering for Jason’s baseball team and Laura’s gymnastic team; joining Jason in karate and archery; building a barn for Laura’s horses, learning to ride himself along with Jan; and encouraging Jason in his growing drumming career, though Jason’s tastes veered toward heavy metal which was far from the classical and jazz music that Bob loved. Jason’s music got Bob to pick-up bass guitar. His joy for supporting his family continued with his grandchildren. The Babas cheered from the sidelines at gymnastic practices, swim lessons, soccer games, choral concerts, and drama club productions.

Bob was a man of broad and varied interests. His home was filled with books and periodicals and musical instruments, and he would often enthusiastically light on a new subject. He loved canoeing adventures; built a harpsichord; took up piano tuning; adopted a wild mustang; and was the director, and sometimes star, of many family productions, including a full-scale staging of Amahl and the Night Visitors, which the family filmed as a gift for George, Sr., and a collection of silly videos to make his mother Irene smile.  He and Jan were avid birder watchers, travelers, and musicians, activities they started participating in together during their college years and continued throughout their lives. Their favorite trips were those with family, or with Ralph and Penny, their cherished friends from college,  and with Martha and Peter from their musical groups. Bob played for a time in the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra and the Concert Bay Concert Band, both with his sister Carol; Biddeford’s Painchaud Band; the Sunrise Brass Quintet with his brass instrument playing friends; as well as multiple groups with Jan, including the King’s Revels, a madrigal group; the ChoralArt Society; and most recently, a handbell choir, The Village Ringers. He also enjoyed playing cornet in a Civil War period band, the Centennial Brass Brand, and learning about the history of this period. 

He was predeceased by his parents, George and Irene, and his cousin Daniel Leighton; and is survived by his wife Jan; his children, Jason Filgate of Portland, ME, Laura Clebak, her husband Ken of Dover, NH; his granddaughters, Madeleine and Charlotte Clebak of Dover; his brother George (Patricia Marshall) of Eugene, OR; sister Carol Furman (John) of Grey, ME; his Aunt Sally Leighton of Vernon, CT; his cousin Matthew Leighton of Bridgewater, MA; and numerous nieces, great nieces, second cousins, caring in-laws, and lifelong friends.  

He was simply the best: a good husband, father, grandfather, son, brother, uncle, friend, and colleague, and will be greatly missed.

A celebration of life will be held at a future date with details to be determined.

The family would like to thank the staff at the Neuro Intensive Care Unit at Maine Medical Center for making sure his last days on earth were filled with music and that his beloved wife of almost 60 years was with him holding his hand.