BRUNSWICK — Thomas E. Bailey Jr., 72, of 4 Green Street, died Saturday, April 18, 2015, at Mid Coast Hospital.

He was born in Brooklyn, NY, on Aug. 22, 1942, the son of Thomas E. Bailey Sr. and Rita Dennisleigh Bailey. He was a graduate of Brooklyn Prep School and earned his B.A. from Fordham. He later became a Shakespeare scholar at Queens College, where he received his master’s in English and did further graduate work at UMass, Amherst.

Mr. Bailey married Elizabeth Reeve on June 27, 1970, in North Andover, MA.

He came in Maine in 1968 to teach in the English Department at the University of Maine, Orono, where he co-founded a Poetry Program. He was the host of two radio shows on MPBN and organized an early music program at the college.

Mr. Bailey founded the Music and Recorder Centre, (later known as Sirius Music) in 1974 to sell early music instruments. In the mid-1980s, he started renting violins and helped to establish and support school music programs before retiring in 2013.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth C. Bailey of Brunswick; his mother of Brunswick and a son, Samuel T. Bailey of Brooklyn, NY and his partner Aiko.

A memorial service will be held at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 27 Pleasant St., Brunswick. Memorial contributions may be made to Coastal Humane Society, 30 Range Road, Brunswick or the Oasis Free Clinic, 66 Baribeau Drive, Brunswick, ME 04011. Arrangements are in the care of Brackett Funeral Home, 29 Federal St., Brunswick.