Scrappy Market Basket Scion, A Former UMaine Hockey Player Who Iced Out Grocery CEO Cousin, Donates $500,000 To Team

Arthur S. Demoulas, known mostly for the age-old corporate fight at a huge New England grocery chain, has scored big for his alma mater, UMaine Men’s Hockey.

The team announced that Demoulas, whose father and uncle founded Market Basket, “has committed $500,000 to support the men’s ice hockey program through the Black Bear Student-Athlete Experience Fund.”

Demoulas, now 67,  was a defenseman for the team during Alfond Arena’s inaugural season in 1977 and again for the 1978 season.

“Arthur’s lead gift has given Maine hockey great momentum as we embrace the new NCAA landscape,” said men’s hockey head coach Ben Barr. “This gift gives us the momentum needed to keep Black Bear hockey thriving.”

The Black Bear Student-Athlete Experience Fund was established in conjunction with the University of Maine Foundation to advance sports excellence.

Demoulas has been in a legal battle for decades with his cousin, Arthur T. Denoulas, over corporate control over Market Basket.

Arthur S. was charged twice in the 1990s with federal wiretapping violations in connection with the Market Basket corporate melee but cleared by two juries.

“In the decades-long Market Basket saga, Arthur S. has been relegated by most to the role of ‘Bad Arthur’ while his cousin, Arthur T., is ‘Good Arthur,’” The Boston Globe reported during the beginning of the family’s corporate struggle.

“Dig deeper, and you’ll find neither is that good nor that bad, and that their famously litigious family might be bringing out the worst in each of them,” the Globe said.

Arthur S.’s father, George Demoulas, built the Market Basket empire with his brother Mike. In the early 1960s, they made a pact. If one died, the survivor would take care of the other’s family. In 1971, while vacationing in Greece, George Demoulas, 51, suffered a fatal heart attack.

After his father’s death, Arthur S. then 12, kept working in the grocery stores, even throughout college.

He attended the University of Maine in Orono, where he was a defenseman on the hockey team, and later transferred to Babson College, graduating in 1985 with a business degree.

He worked at Demoulas Super Markets until 1990, rising to assistant produce director of the chain.

The ex-Maine hockey player wanted to stay involved in day-to-day operations, but as the litigation against his uncle became nastier, his uncle sued to fire him.