[B]URLINGTON — The Queen City’s centenarian philanthropist, Antonio Pomerleau, was in rare form Friday at a dedication ceremony for a new community sailing center that bears his name.
The jocular businessman, who celebrated his 100th birthday earlier in the week, sported a hat with the line “100 and still the best looking guy in the room,” and riffed off the speakers who lined up to sing his praises, including the governor and the mayor.
Gov. Phil Scott said he was surprised earlier in the week to get a call from “Mr. P,” as Pomerleau is known to friends and associates, not about the upcoming celebration, but about business matters. The governor did not name the topic, but said he valued the counsel.
“I will always cherish that call. I thought it was very spectacular,” Scott said.
“You hung up on me,” Pomerleau said, drawing laughter from the crowd of family, friends, business types and reporters.
“I did, but he called back. He’s very persistent,” Scott said, with a grin.
Pomerleau gave a $1 million gift to the Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center this month to support a capital campaign for its new home, which will bear his name as the Pomerleau Community Waterfront Campus, joining several other buildings in Burlington that bear his name, including the police station and YMCA.
Mayor Miro Weinberger recounted one of Pomerleau’s favorite stories, about how the real estate developer went to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., shortly after the senator was elected Burlington’s mayor in the 1980s to tell him that while Sanders might be mayor, it was still his town.
“And because of Tony’s incredible business savvy and remarkable generosity, in many ways, Tony not only is this still your town today, but because of your generosity, it’s going to be so for many years into the future,” Weinberger said.
When it was his turn to address the crowd, Pomerleau recounted his experiences as a child during the Great Depression “working his fanny off” at odd jobs, decorating windows, picking potatoes or selling popcorn.
“So I kept on working hard, and I’ve been very fortunate, very lucky. So, I thought I’d give back gradually to the kids,” Pomerleau said. “I worked all the way through, but I had a very comfortable home. We had plenty at all times. So, I had a happy life, too, in my own way. I wouldn’t trade it for anybody else. I haven’t made too many mistakes so far.”
The Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center serves more than 6,000 people annually, and the center serves students in the Burlington School District.
Weinberger recalled that, when he attended his daughter’s elementary school graduation at Integrated Arts Academy, students were asked to share their most memorable experience from grades one through five.
“It must have been half the kids there specifically talked about the time that they were down here at Community Sailing Center out on the water,” the mayor said. “It is remarkable the impact that this organization is having on Burlington’s children.”
Owen Milne, the executive director of the center, said Pomerleau’s gift will help the organization expand its reach to get more people, especially seniors and young people from outside Burlington, onto the water.
The new sailing center is under construction, and earlier in the week sent out an emergency fundraising call to supporters explaining that federal new market tax credits, a complex financing tool for new development, fell through.
The center was planning to use those credits to make a final $1.7 million construction payment, but it now believes it will be able to make up the shortfall through private donations, Milne said.
Since the fundraising message was sent this week, the center has received a six-figure donation, and several previous large-dollar supporters have reached out to say they’d be willing to make additional contributions, he said.
