NAPLES – A well-liked and admired family man from Gray was struck and killed Tuesday afternoon as he was making deliveries in his UPS truck in Naples.

According to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, the United Parcel Service driver, Shannon Ronan, 44, was stopped in the westbound lane on Route 302 in downtown Naples, waiting to make a left-hand turn near Great Northern Docks. A Time Warner utility truck operated by Michael Hanrahan, 43, of Windham, struck Ronan’s delivery truck from behind, catapulting the UPS truck into the path of an oncoming Pickard Transport Inc. tractor-trailer driven by Dewight Pickard, 54, of Topsham.

The crash occurred at 2:30 p.m. Route 302 was closed to traffic for several hours Tuesday afternoon and evening as crash investigators from the Windham Police Department reconstructed the accident. The two drivers, neither of whom was injured in the collision, underwent blood tests to determine if alcohol or drugs played a role. No charges have yet been filed, said Chief Deputy Kevin Joyce on Wednesday afternoon.

Ronan, who was killed in the crash, was a longtime UPS route driver in the Naples and Casco area. He is remembered by fellow employees and around town as a hard worker, kind and considerate. Owners of the Augustus Bove House, an inn located in the center of Naples, have set up a memorial fund for the man they got to know through his deliveries to the inn over the years.

“We’re going to start a collection for the family for Christmas,” said innkeeper Arlene Stetson. “We’re also going to have a bench with a plaque made that the family can have.” Anyone wishing to donate to the fund can call Stetson at 693-6365.

In addition, Stetson also plans to contact the Boston Red Sox to see if the baseball franchise would donate a team jacket to one of Ronan’s children, an avid Red Sox fan.

“Shannon used to tell us about how his son loved the Red Sox, so we’re going to see what we can do,” Stetson said.

Stetson wasn’t the only Naples business owner to develop a relationship with Ronan, who delivered in Naples for the last decade.

Frank Keen at Bay View Cabins on the Brandy Pond side of the Causeway, said Ronan was “a great guy. If he had a heavy package, I’d say I could get it, but he wouldn’t let me, he’d say, ‘Frank, it’s too heavy for you, let me bring it inside.’ It’s a rotten shame it is.”

Laurie Hodge, deputy town clerk at the Naples Town Hall, a frequent stop of Ronan’s, said, “He was very well-liked and touched many lives in Naples. He always smiled, and always brought joy into any room he entered.”

Karen Morton, administrative assistant at Coldwell Banker, Lakes Region Properties on Roosevelt Trail in Naples, said Ronan “was always professional, always hard-working. He was just a friendly guy, someone you enjoyed seeing coming into the office.”

On Wednesday morning, another UPS driver arrived with a package and Morton was saddened when it occurred to her it wouldn’t be Ronan delivering.

“My eyes filled up,” Morton said. “I expected Shannon to be getting off the truck. I’m sure the whole town is saddened. He was like part of the team. I feel so badly for his family.”

Jackie Hann, manager at K&K Reel Vision Video, said Ronan would deliver movies every Friday and always have a smile on his face and a kind word to say. Even when K&K didn’t have a delivery, Ronan would walk by the front of the store and knock on the window to say hello.

“I’m just here crying about it, it’s so sad. He was always happy, he’d always say ‘hey, how ya doing?’ He was just a happy person, he’ll be so missed,” Hann said.

Fellow UPS employees will also miss the veteran driver. Jim O’Brion, of Gray, worked with Ronan for over six years out of the UPS distribution center in Auburn and knew Ronan as a “great family man.”

“Shannon was incredibly personable and all the drivers respected him,” O’Brion said.

He also said Ronan was a very careful driver and one of the hardest working drivers he knew. He’s friendly with the Ronan family, often seeing Ronan’s children at soccer and basketball games in Gray.

“He had two young kids and a beautiful wife. Christmas isn’t always the favorite time of the year for UPS drivers just because of the long hours away from family, but now they’ll always have to remember this. It’ll be hard,” O’Brion said.

Troy Wessell, Ronan’s supervisor at UPS, said he wasn’t able to comment extensively due to company policy, but did say, “The employees here, our thoughts and prayers are with the family.”