ROCKLAND — he Apprenticeshop is pleased to welcome Joseph Steinberger to its board of directors, voted in at the Shop's winter board meeting held in mid-February. He joins a diverse group of talented and dedicated community members and professionals who make up the Apprenticeshop's board.

Joe was born in Boston and spent most of his childhood in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. He has been an avid sailor since childhood summers on Long Island and has cruised from Nova Scotia to Florida and the Caribbean. He attended Columbia College and Columbia Law School. In 1972, he moved to Maine and began his legal practice from an office in Wiscasset.

In 1976, working with a group that sought to protect Maine's Bigelow Mountain from development, he helped draft the referendum and lead the campaign to create the Bigelow Mountain Preserve. In 1978, after having served for a time as counsel to Maine Common Cause, he moved to Augusta to become its Executive Director.

Joe returned to private practice in 1982 and built a house on Gay Street Place in Rockland (400 yards from the Apprenticeshop) where he continues to live and work.

In 1984, Joe co-founded Penobscot School, Rockland's unique center for language learning and international exchange. He served on the Rockland Parks Commission and, as chair conceived and organized the creation of Marie Reed Park and its footpath to the breakwater. From 1998 to 2001 he served on the Rockland City Council. In 2001, he founded WRFR, 93.3 FM, Rockland's local community radio station, and for many years wrote a weekly column, We the Six Billion, for the Free Press.

Joe's wife Keiko Suzuki Steinberger is the owner/chef of Suzuki's Sushi Bar on Rockland's Main Street. Their son Takuma, born in 2007, has learned to sail on optimist prams in the Apprenticeshop's Community Sailing program, and both Joe and Takuma enjoying spending the summer sailing Maine waters aboard their 54-year-old Tripp/Lentsch sloop, Teal.

Of his new appointment, Joe said in a news release, "The Apprenticeshop is a wonderful asset for Rockland. I am delighted with the turnaround taking place at the Shop under the leadership of (Board Chair) Tom Weis. While a corner has been turned, much work remains on the path to the great future that the Shop's wonderful tradition and excellent waterfront facility permit. Because my son and I so much enjoy having the Apprenticeshop just down the street from us, I have a personal stake in the success of this extremely worthwhile endeavor."

Since 1972, The Apprenticeshop has been a school of traditional boatbuilding, seamanship, and sailing, dedicated to inspiring personal growth through craftsmanship, community, and traditions of the sea. Located at 655 Main Street in Rockland's North End, the Shop offers traditional boatbuilding, community sailing, various waterfront services, and, new in 2016, access to a traditional boat livery for rental of wooden sail and row boats. Learn more at apprenticeshop.org