RINDGE — Edward C. Brummer, 101, an old school New England innkeeper and holder of the Boston Post Cane as the oldest resident of Rindge died peacefully on Feb. 24, 2010.

Brummer, or Mr. B as he was known, was the proprietor of Woodbound Inn in Rindge for 47 years, 1934-1981 when he sold the business to his son Jed.

He was born Jan. 7, 1909, in Lisbon.

He got his early training in the hospitality business a few miles away as a bellhop and caddy at the Sunset Hill House in Sugar Hill.

He graduated cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1931 as a history major. The summer before his senior year he got a job as an usher with the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus and toured with it throughout the East. This experience, together with the impact of the Great Depression, solidified his lifelong passions for golf, the circus, Dartmouth College and progressive politics.

Taken in order, his passion for golf was manifest in the pride he took in designing and building a par-3 golf course for Woodbound Inn. He was also a dedicated member of the Keene Country Club. A lifelong member of the Circus Fans of America and a regular attendee of the Greatest Show on Earth at the Boston Garden, he preferred the intimacy of the one ring, Big Apple Circus. Until his dying day, Ed served as president of his Dartmouth class. He was a Roosevelt New Deal devotee and self-proclaimed lifelong liberal Democrat.

A voracious reader and book collector, he loved books and historical artifacts. At age 83 he decided to re-read the classics.

For three years, he managed the Bethlehem Steel Company operation in Hingham, Mass., constructing troop landing craft.

Active in civic affairs, he was a Mason and member of the Lions Club. He served on the board of directors of the Monadnock Bank and the mutual aid Meadowbrook Fire Department. He was a member and chair of the Rindge zoning board. He was a founding member of the Rindge Historical Society and helped write the current town history. He was a member of the N.H. Historical Society.

In the late 1950s he was appointed chair of the state’s Economic Development Committee.

He was a member and chair of the N.H. Hotel and Motel Association and chaired the resort committee of the New England Innkeepers Association.

He is survived by his wife of 67 years, Margaret (Sloane) Brummer; three children, Jed and his wife, Linda, of Rindge; Jefferson and his wife, Katherine Walker, of Jamaica Plain, Mass., and daughter Martha and her partner, Glenis Beaven, of Tynemouth, England; five grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

A service in his memory will be held at the Cathedral of the Pines in the spring. Memorial gifts may be sent to the Rindge or Lisbon historical societies, the Cathedral of the Pines or Doctors Without Borders.

Cournoyer Funeral Home and Cremation Center of Jaffrey is assisting with arrangements.