Andy Molloy never missed a thing.
Often driving right behind a fire truck, the award-winning photojournalist, who worked for 30 years at the Kennebec Journal, would arrive on scene before even the best local reporters.
And Molloy could not be missed. His fill-the-room, winding, stubborn charisma and ungovernable personality, friends said, defined his life.
“There will never be another Andy Molloy,” longtime friend and Maine Public reporter Kevin Miller said.
Molloy died Tuesday at MaineGeneral Medical Center in Augusta after a decade battling adenoid cystic carcinoma, a rare form of cancer. He was 57.
Molloy was born Feb. 9, 1969, to a family that has been deeply rooted in central Maine for centuries; many of his ancestors are buried in the Hallowell Cemetery. He grew up in Hallowell and graduated from Bard College in New York.
After college, he spent a brief stint as a paramedic in New York City before returning to Maine, where he began his career at the Kennebec Journal in 1995.
In three decades working for the Augusta-based newspaper, he shot thousands of photos — of Mainers celebrating their happiest moments, and, often, facing their worst.
Molloy’s deep knowledge of the communities where he grew up proved incredibly valuable in news coverage over the years, Miller said. He loved the Kennebec River-side cities, and owned property in Hallowell and Gardiner — including a downtown Gardiner building that houses Spindleworks, an art studio for people with intellectual disabilities, a nonprofit of which he was very fond.
Michael Shepherd, now a politics editor at the Bangor Daily News, began his career at his hometown Kennebec Journal in 2011 as an intern. Shepherd already knew Molloy’s name by virtue of growing up in Hallowell. Everyone knew him.
One of Shepherd’s first assignments was a business feature on Boynton’s Market in downtown Hallowell. Molloy knew something was up, Shepherd said, and pushed him to dig deeper into the new operator — who turned out to be a fraudster.
Molloy grew into an uncle figure for Shepherd, he said, guiding him through the early years of his news career.
Shepherd said Molloy would often provide apartments for co-workers in need of a new place or others experiencing difficult times.
“Hallowell and the entire Augusta area are so much better for the fact that Andy Molloy lived,” Shepherd said. “That’s really all you can hope for at the end of your life. He accomplished it.”
Gardiner fire Chief Richard Sieberg said he met Molloy almost three decades ago when he joined the fire department. Molloy swapped wild stories with firefighters right up until his death, he said.
Molloy would follow close behind when newsworthy calls came in, and he was eager to help on emergency scenes, too, Sieberg said. He knew both the first responders and, many times, the subjects, he said.
Molloy’s cousin, Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, said he “kept the bonds of family tightly in hand” and “was always checking in on us and the kids and sharing updates about the rest of the family.”
“He was the same way about the communities he called home,” Golden said. “You could sense his genuine interest in life and in people. He was curious, caring, passionate, and always funny. I know that Andy touched many lives in his career as a photojournalist. I hope all who loved him take comfort knowing that their loss is shared not only by his family, but by the many people in Maine who were lucky enough to know him.”
Molloy won several Maine Press Association awards for his photojournalism. But his favorite part of the job, Miller said, was talking to people, learning their stories, finding their quirks.
“Andy was also an extremely well-sourced journalist who was an unsung hero when it came to reliable tips that often led to important reporting,” said Scott Monroe, managing editor for the Maine Trust for Local News, which owns the Kennebec Journal. “He had a genuine passion for the positive impact of local journalism and he cared deeply for our communities.”
An avid fly-fisher and certified Maine Guide, he often took friends and family on trout fishing trips to western and northern Maine in his Toyota 4-Runner. Miller said Molloy was an incredibly skilled fisherman; he knew just by the look of the river where to cast his line.
Days spent fishing with Molloy were often spent waiting for him to come back to the thing he started talking about in the first place, Miller said — his sharp mind would take him around the block.
“You had to learn how to be patient with Andy,” he said. “But that’s why so many of us loved him. He just was a such a character.”
Callie Ferguson, a Bangor Daily News editor who met Molloy at a funeral in 2018, said Molloy gifted her specially annotated hiking trail maps noting his favorite lookouts and swimming holes when his health began to decline.
Over the years, he and Ferguson bonded over breaking news and dogs — Molloy seemed to know just about every dog in Maine, she said.
“I was initially intrigued by his eccentric charisma, which I think is what most people would immediately think of when they think of Andy,” Ferguson said. “I genuinely am so glad that I know other people who knew Andy because I don’t think I have ever succeeded in trying to describe him to someone who’d not met him.”
Molloy would walk into any establishment — from stores in rural Aroostook County to restaurants in Gardiner — and inevitably know someone inside, Miller said.
That was his greatest gift, Miller said: making instant friends with his winding, intellectual, stick-with-him-to-the-end conversation style.
And boy, did Andy Molloy make friends.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Ethan Horton can be reached at [email protected].
