Interview with Mary and Harold Friedman by Andrea L’Hommedieu
Biographial Note
Mary (Mitchell) Friedman was born on September 30, 1957, in Waterville, Maine, one of seven siblings and niece to George Mitchell. Her father, Robert “Robbie” Mitchell, worked for the FDIC, and her mother, Janet (Fraser) Mitchell, was an elementary school teacher. Mary grew up in Waterville, attending St. Joseph’s school, Waterville Junior High School, Waterville High School, and then she continued on to Colby College. She earned her law degree from the University of Maine School of Law and practiced law for approximately fifteen years. She spent three years in Washington, D.C. as a trial lawyer for the Constitution Torts Division at the Department of Justice and later returned to Maine. She has served on the board of the Mitchell Institute since its founding in 1995, and has been chair for eight years. Harold Friedman was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on December 4, 1942. He grew up in Detroit and attended Wayne State University, then earned his law degree from Boston University. In 1975, while he was a federal prosecutor in New York, he went to Maine and met George Mitchell, who recommended him to the law firm Preti Flaherty, where he was subsequently hired. He met Mary Mitchell there, and they later were married. At the time of this interview, he was a trial lawyer with the firm Friedman, Gaythwaite, Wolf & Leavitt in Portland, Maine.
Summary
Interview includes discussions of: family history at Colby College; founding the Mitchell Institute; the Mitchell Institute’s intent and expansion; higher education in Maine; Northern Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement; life with the Mitchell family in Waterville; cribbage; the 1968 presidential election and the younger generation of the Mitchell family being politically active; Hubert Humphrey’s visit to Mrs. Mitchell; volunteering for the Muskie presidential campaign in 1972; the 1974 Maine gubernatorial campaign; George Mitchell’s campaign strategy for his senate campaign; growing up in Detroit; summer work on Martha’s Vineyard and the Kennedy presence there; George Mitchell’s accessibility; and the Mitchell family’s roots shaping their commitment to public service.