By Linda Lemmon

Town Crier Editor

PUTNAM --- Longtime Town Administrator Douglas M. Cutler, 64,  died unexpectedly Oct. 3.

Known for his genuine dedication to public service and his kindness, Cutler experienced a serious medical  event at home, before coming to work, Sept. 30, was taken to Day Kimball Hospital, stabilized and then Life Flighted to UMass in Worcester. He was put into an induced coma and died late morning Oct. 3.

Staff and friends and family are devastated.  He leaves his wife Charlene Perkins-Cutler and two sons, Timothy and James. Their photos decorate his overflowing desk at town hall.  He reveled in serving as a chaperone for the Woodstock Middle School eighth grade students' annual road trip to Washington, D.C.

Cutler has always been a public servant. He worked as town administrator for town of West Haven, was a staff assistant to Senator Lowell Weicker Jr. from May 1971 through January 1989. 

He also served as first selectman in Woodstock in the late 1980s.

He became town administrator Oct. 4, 1999, and would have celebrated his 17th anniversary Oct. 4. 

He was the town's first town administrator and served as a liaison to nearly every board in town.  He was also the program director of Putnam PRIDE, the town's substance abuse prevention program.