Former Lewiston Mayor Laurier T. Raymond Jr. dies at 87

Laurier “Larry” T. Raymond Jr., a former Lewiston mayor whose 2002 letter to Somali elders asking them to slow the arrival of refugees to the city touched off a firestorm of national attention, has died.

Raymond died Saturday at Androscoggin Hospice House in Auburn, according to an obituary provided by the funeral home handling his visitation services. He was 87.

In 2002, Laurier “Larry” Raymond, Lewiston’s mayor, called on the local Somali community to voluntarily limit the number of future immigrants choosing to settle in his city. Raymond died Saturday at age 87. Jack Milton/Staff Photographer, file

A practicing attorney for 61 years, Raymond also served as the Androscoggin County attorney in the 1960s and as a probate judge for more than three decades, his obituary said. He was active in many civic and community organizations throughout his career.

But it was his stint as Lewiston mayor – a largely ceremonial position in 2002 – that brought Raymond into the national spotlight. He made nationwide headlines, including coverage in The New York Times and The Washington Post, when he penned an open letter to the Somali-American community saying that a rapid influx of Somali refugees was overwhelming city services.

According to an October 2002 Washington Post article, about 1,500 Somali refugees had arrived in Lewiston in a relatively short period, including about 300 between Memorial Day and Labor Day of that year, stressing the city’s General Assistance and school budgets. Lewiston’s population at the time was about 35,000, it said.

“This large number of new arrivals cannot continue without negative results for all,” Raymond wrote in his letter. “The Somali community must exercise some discipline and reduce the stress on our limited finances and our generosity.”

At the time, city officials defended the letter as a sincere plea from the mayor of a city that had been taxed to its limits by a rapid influx of new residents who were all seeking local government assistance. However, it was perceived by some members of both pro- and anti-immigration groups as being racially motivated.

According to news reports from the time, the letter angered many community leaders and residents, prompting some to speak out against Raymond, while others defended him. Raymond served just one term as Lewiston mayor, vowing not to run for re-election after the negative reaction his letter received.

A small group of white supremacists held a demonstration in support of Raymond in Lewiston in early 2003, which sparked a much larger counterdemonstration at Bates College involving about 4,000 people critical of his letter.

A documentary film about the incident called “The Letter: An American Town and the ‘Somali Invasion,'” was released to critical acclaim in 2003.

Nearly two decades after Raymond’s letter was published, even those who disagreed with him at the time now say Raymond did not deserve the scorn and allegations of racism he received.

“I disagreed with him in regards to the letter,” said Larry Gilbert Sr., who served with Raymond on the board of directors at the Franco American Heritage Center. “But I understand why he did it. I think his intentions were good. I don’t believe he was being hateful at all.”

Robert MacDonald, another former Lewiston mayor, said when Raymond wrote the letter, he was doing what is expected of a mayor: He was looking out for the people he served by trying to keep city finances from falling into chaos.

“He got so much flak over it,” MacDonald said. “And he didn’t do anything other than to think about the people of Lewiston. He was a very good mayor. He really cared for this city.”

Raymond practiced law with two firms: Marshall, Raymond and Beliveau and, later, Isaacson & Raymond. He served as Androscoggin County attorney from 1960 to 1965, and as judge of probate from 1965 to 1998.

According to Raymond’s obituary, he is survived by his wife, Pauline; his children, Susan Geismar, L. Thomas Raymond III and Martha Venter; son-in-law J. Christopher Turner; stepson John St. Germain; eight grandchildren; one stepgranddaughter; and two great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held at the Albert & Burpee Funeral Home, 253 Pine St. in Lewiston, from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, it said. A Mass of Christian Burial will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the upper church of the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, 122 Ash St. in Lewiston. Burial and committal prayers will follow at St. Peter’s Cemetery, 217 Switzerland Road, in Lewiston.

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