Gregg Hartley, at 54; owned Maine marine services firm

Gregg Hartley was a man of few words and big ambitions. With a twinkle in his eyes and chipmunk cheeks, the rugged Beverly native parlayed fishing charters into a successful Maine marine services company with five tugboats and an airplane.

"Gregg was just a fixture in Boothbay," David Wilson said of the friend he made 30 years ago on the Boothbay Harbor docks. "He came across as just a good old guy, but he knew a lot more than he was letting on."

Mr. Hartley, who grew up on the North Shore, died Monday when the Piper Cherokee he was piloting crashed during a thunderstorm in Tyringham, in the Berkshires. He was 54.

His friend -- Timothy Ladd, 59, a tugboat engineer from Hallowell, Maine, and fellow pilot -- was also killed in the crash. The men were on their way to repair one of Mr. Hartley's tugs on the Hudson River. His boat, The Penobscot, had been towing cement barges for a Catskill company.

The town of Boothbay has planned a rare honor for Mr. Hartley tomorrow afternoon, a boat parade.

"It's a sign of the respect and admiration of the whole community," said Wilson, who runs his own tug business out of Portland.

Mr. Hartley grew up lobstering and running launches off the North Shore. He graduated from the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in 1974 and went to work on the world's first dynamically positioned drill ship, a special vessel built for off-shore oil drilling without moorings or anchoring. He was the son of the late Gordon and Mary Quill Hartley.

In 1976, Mr. Hartley moved to Boothbay, where he met his wife, Kathy, and ran party fishing vessels, tour boats, and tugs. He spent his winters as a ski technician at Sugarloaf USA for many years.

He and his wife, who teaches elementary school, had three daughters, Kelsy, 23, and Sonny, 21, and Ali, 17. Known for his devotion to his children, Mr. Hartley rarely missed one of their field hockey games or tennis matches, even if he had to leave his office and drive several hours for an event, friends said.

Ann Reed, Hartley Marine's office manager for nine years, said her boss treated his employees like a family.

"It was like coming to work with a friend," she said. "You know that old saying [that] nobody is irreplaceable. There are exceptions to that rule, and he was one of them."

In the 1980s, Mr. Hartley was the cargo supervisor for Universal American Shipping Corp., running large ocean-going bulk barges all over the world.

He ventured back into business for himself 15 years ago when he launched Hartley Marine Services, conducting cargo deadweight surveys on large ocean-going coal ships and later adding tugboats. In 1996, his company received the Outstanding Service Award at the Northeastern Power Cogeneration Plant Coal Conference.

A consummate seaman, Mr. Hartley racked up a list of seafaring certifications, including an ocean master's license, an unlimited mates' license, and a tanker man unlimited ship pilotage in many New England areas. He also earned his aviation pilot's license and had been flying for 15 years to jobs, aviation events, and on pleasure trips.

"He loved to fly," Reed said. "That's one of the things that's helping us to accept this. He went out doing something he loved to do."

Friends said that one of Mr. Hartley's favorite community events was the annual Tugmuster held in August in Portland to raise money for charity.

Two years ago, he outfitted 85 people aboard his tug with matching aqua T-shirts for the race. His employees had been invited to bring as many friends as they liked, and all were treated to a buffet on board. His tug didn't win, but Mr. Hartley enjoyed ribbing the winners with charges that they had jumped the starter's gun, Reed said.

This week, Mr. Hartley's beloved dogs, Cooper and Bentley, who came from a local shelter, paced around his office, where he often kept them, his office manager said. Friends said Mr. Hartley loved dogs and always had a canine companion with him on the job. He had a series of black labs before adopting his latest pair of mixed pooches.

Locals also remembered Mr. Hartley for helping to bring the Mayflower II, a replica of the Pilgrim vessel, to Boothbay Harbor for viewing by schoolchildren in the 1980s.

Mr. Hartley was working for a towing company charged with bringing the ship from Plymouth to Stonington, Maine, for repairs. What was originally planned as a short stop in Boothbay turned into a feat of master maneuvering as Mr. Hartley's tugs brought the Mayflower II closer into port for visits by more than 550 schoolchildren, according to news accounts.

In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Hartley leaves his brother, Paul of Ipswich, and two sisters, Ann Larson of Ipswich and Ruth Thomsen of Milton. A memorial service is planned for 2 p.m. tomorrow at the Boothbay Region YMCA field house, followed by the parade of boats and a reception at Brown's Wharf.