Donald C. Hansen, a former editor of the Boothbay Register, will be inducted into the Maine Press Association’s Hall of Fame together with photojournalist Scott Haskell of the Bangor Daily News and Emery “Legs” Labbe, former publisher of the St. John Valley Times.

These inductees join the Register's editor emeritus, Mary Brewer, who was inducted in 2012. Other luminaries in the Maine Press Association’s Hall of Fame include syndicated columnist Bill Caldwell, Guy P. Gannett, who founded the Gannett newspapers in Portland, and Walter Mattson of The New York Times.

The Hall of Fame luncheon and induction ceremony will be held October 26 at the Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Conference Center in Bar Harbor as part of the annual Maine Press Association’s Fall Conference. Hansen’s oldest son, Jody Hansen, will attend the induction ceremony for his father.

Don Hansen got his journalism start as editor at the Register back in 1957 and spent a lifetime in Maine journalism. It was here in the Boothbay region that Hansen met his wife of 51 years, Jill McAnney Hansen, who was then co-owner at the Boothbay Playhouse. He joined the Portland Newspapers in 1960, first as City Hall reporter and then, for a dozen years, as State House reporter, covering legislative, governmental and political developments statewide.

“We're thrilled that Don is being recognized for his many years of exceptional reporting,” Mary Brewer said. “Even though he was a native of Aroostook County, we consider him one of our own, since he started his career at the Boothbay Register, and he and his family spent their summers here for close to 50 years.''

According to fellow Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Brunelle, “Over the years he won a reputation for a reporting style that was direct, informed and rounded. His twice-weekly columns reflected an ability to sort out complicated legislative issues and complex political machinations with both clarity and easygoing humor.”

Hansen earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the College of Communications at Boston University and did his master's work at the Maxwell School of Citizenship & Public Affairs at Syracuse University after winning an American Political Science Foundation fellowship to study intergovernmental relations.

In 1971, when Sen. Edmund S. Muskie was a top prospect for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hansen co-authored a well-regarded biography of the Maine senator that was published nationally by W.W. Norton.

Hansen spoke about his fascination with Muskie in an interview at Bates College at the Muskie archives back in 2000. “I felt strongly that Maine ought to have a two party system, and they didn’t, for years and years. And I was pleased to finally see somebody who could galvanize the party so that you had a little competition, because, if there’s only one party there isn’t any clash of ideas and there isn’t any spark for innovation.”

Hansen was named editorial page director for the Portland papers in 1973, papers that included the Press Herald, the (now closed) Evening Express and the Maine Sunday Telegram. He would hold that job for two decades, during which time he helped complete a transformation of a prior perception of the editorial pages as “reliably Republican” into a broader, more open forum for independent views. Hansen never registered with a political party.

According to the Hall of Fame nomination, “Under his leadership, editorial writers were encouraged to produce well-researched and reasoned opinions. He often insisted that editorials on controversial matters include a fair portrayal of opposing viewpoints before outlining the newspaper’s logic in disagreeing with those positions.”

“In general, his managerial touch over a diverse staff of writers was deliberately light. He preferred to give free rein to the individual strengths of each in shaping the editorial process. He was regarded as a deft go-between for the sometimes competing ideas and attitudes of his staff and the newspaper’s top management,” said Brunelle, who was a colleague of Hansen's at the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram.

Born in Aroostook County in 1935, Hansen was raised and schooled in Presque Isle. After he left the Boothbay Register, he maintained his connection to the region as a continuous Southport summer resident from 1959 through 2008. He now resides in Ridgefield, Conn., in an assisted-living community near his son.

The Maine Press Association Hall of Fame was established in 1998 to honor newspaper journalists with Maine connections who have made outstanding contributions to the profession. With the three 2013 inductions, the Hall of Fame will have 57 members.

To register for the Hall of Fame ceremony or the entire conference, contact mainepressmail@gmail.com.