[T]he letter “P” in Mr. P stands for Pomerleau, but his loved ones, friends and colleagues said it also stands for persistence. And perhaps profits. And philanthropy.
But persistence was the word that most often came to mind for family members, friends and politicos who gathered Tuesday to remember Antonio Pomerleau’s remarkable, century long life.
The Chittenden County real estate tycoon died at age of 100 last Thursday. He never retired.
More than 400 people celebrated his life at a funeral held at Saint Michael’s College in Colchester on Tuesday.
The mourners included members of the military, the local police department, the leadership of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Vermont and a Who’s Who of politicos, including Marcelle Leahy, who is Pomerleau’s niece and the wife of Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., (also in attendance) and their daughter Alicia Leahy Jackson. Also in attendance were Gov. Phil Scott, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger, Jane Sanders, wife of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Carina Driscoll, a candidate for Burlington mayor, Brandon Del Pozo, the Burlington Police chief, and TJ Donovan, the Vermont attorney general,
Tony Pomerleau was known for his business acumen, terse remarks and competitive spirit. He and his wife of 71 years, Rita, raised 10 children. There are 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
“You saw dad and that’s what you saw,” his son Ernie Pomerleau recalled. “There were no filters. My father was not a wallflower. If there was a mic in the room, it was in his hands. You could never embarrass him, he was never wrong, and he was never shy.”
While he never owned a computer, Tony had two “cellophones.” Looking down at the casket from a dais Ernie Pomerleau said, “He has one with him, and if you call him he’ll probably answer.”
He preferred “not to use the king’s English.” Ernie, who worked with his father for more than 30 years at Pomerleau Real Estate, said his father put together sentences that he described as “Tony speak.” “Those of us who knew him, we knew exactly what he was saying, but he had so much energy and talked so fast that it was his own dialect sometimes,” Ernie said.
He was also renowned for his generosity. Tony Pomerleau gave away millions of dollars to charity over the years — to local Catholic churches and schools, Saint Michael’s College, the Boys and Girls Club of Burlington, the YMCA, and the Lake Champlain Sailing Center. And he sponsored an annual Christmas party for low-income families that featured a meal, toys and a chance to meet Santa.
Ernie Pomerleau described his father’s life as nothing short of a miracle. Tony was in the habit of saying that everyone had a shelf life except him. He lived so long, and worked right up to the end of his life, that immortality seemed almost a possibility.
“Everything has an expiration date except me,” Tony Pomerleau used to say.
Defying the odds defined his life. He was born in Quebec and grew up in Newport, Vermont. From the time he was 3 until he was 9 years old, he wore a rigid metal body brace wrapped in leather. His mother, who was told he would not live to age 12, took Tony to the shrine of Sainte Anne de Beaupre.
“He would tell you that there he experienced a miracle,” Ernie Pomerleau told mourners. “He took the brace off and hung it up and that was an emotional part of his character that forged who he was.”
Tony Pomerleau “could overcome any adversity or challenge in life,” his son said, and “he never saw failure, he saw opportunity.”
As a kid, Pomerleau was a “Tom Sawyer” who would get his friends and acquaintances to work for him. He’d pay them to paint, mow lawns and wax cars — and he’d always take a cut. “You never go broke by taking a profit,” was one of his oft-repeated lines.
“Dad was bigger than life,” Ernie said. “There’s a classic line — go big or go home. Dad was always thinking big.”
Even after he settled in Burlington and became a successful businessman and real estate developer, he “never forgot where he came from.” He owned property in Newport and frequently returned to the city on the Canadian border for Mass. Last year the city of Newport named him Grand Marshal.
Last fall, family and friends celebrated his 100th birthday and the Burlington Free Press printed a special edition about his life.
“How many people get a 64-page supplement for their birthday edition, much less get to 100?” Ernie asked. “The only complaint we got was that it wasn’t 100 pages.”
The supplement features a picture of Tony with a string of fish and a big Cheshire cat grin on his face. But the smile had nothing to do with his luck with a rod.
“It’s not because he caught all those fish, it’s because he won a bet,” Ernie said. The deal was, whoever caught the most fish won the pot. Tony paid $100 to a fishing guide to win the bet and to get a buck off of each of his friends. “Some things do not change,” Erine said as the audience laughed.
Bishop Christopher Coyne of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Burlington who presided over the service recalled how Tony pressed him to attend his nephew’s 50th anniversary. Mr. P called at 7 a.m., as he was known to do, to ask Coyne if he could make it. Coyne declined. A few days later, Pomerleau called again and Coyne explained that he sees his mother every weekend in New York state. Finally, a call came from the U.S. Senate. Coyne wondered why in the world a senator would call him. It was Leahy, asking the bishop to come to the anniversary party. Finally, Coyne relented.
“[Tony] wouldn’t take no for an answer,” Coyne said.
