Leon Gorman

Leon Gorman, who led a modernization of the family business, outdoor clothing and gear retailer L.L. Bean, died Sept. 3 2015at his home in Yarmouth, Maine. He was 80. Mr. Gorman, a grandson of L.L. Bean founder Leon Leonwood Bean, led the Maine-based company as chief executive or chairman for 46 years before retiring as chairman in 2013. He retained the title of chairman emeritus. Leon Arthur Gorman, a son of John T. and Barbara Bean Gorman, was born in Nashua, N.H., on Dec. 20, 1934, and grew up in Yarmouth. He graduated in 1956 from Bowdoin College in Maine and then was a merchandise trainee with the Filene’s department store in Boston. After a stint in the Navy Reserve, he joined L.L. Bean in the early 1960s as treasurer, starting at $80 a week. He had the difficult task of keeping the company on an even footing when he took over after L.L.’s death in 1967. (Mr. Gorman’s father, a vice president of the firm, died in 1959.) A complete list of survivors was not immediately available. Chris McCormick, a longtime executive with the company, is now L.L. Bean president and chief executive.