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New Hampshire Hall of Fame Builder Roger Duhamel Dies at 73
 Roger G. Duhamel, who was inducted into the New Hampshire Housing Hall of Fame in 2008 and had devoted more than 40 years to advancing home building and homeownership in his home town of Nashua and throughout New Hampshire, died at his home on July 8 after a short illness. He was 73.
In 1966, Duhamel co-founded the Nashua Area Home Builders & Remodelers Association and served as its first president. He remained on its board of directors until 2003 and was voted the local association’s builder of the year in 1980 and 1992.
Before founding the HBA, Duhamel was instrumental in convincing the state legislature to grant a special exemption to the town of Nashua that helped resolve a local government stalemate that revented municipal sewer extensions from being issued, halting almost all home building.
Throughout his career, he often testified before the state legislature on housing issues as a member of the Home Builders & Remodelers Association of New Hampshire legislative committee. In 1972, he served as the state association’s president and was instrumental in enabling it to hire a full time executive officer to regularly speak on housing issues before the legislature.
Among his local and state housing-related appointments, Duhamel served on the Greater Nashua Housing and Development Foundation, which later became the Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater New Hampshire; the Community Stewardship Task Force of the Office of Energy and Planning; the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority Multifamily Process Review Committee; and the New Hampshire Housing and Community Planning Council.
Duhamel also was instrumental in the formation of the New Hampshire Housing Finance Agency, which provided funding to low-income families to help them become home owners. The agency eventually became the New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority.
At NAHB, Duhamel served on several committees throughout his career and in 1980 was named a Life Director.
Duhamel was a lifelong resident of Nashua, graduating from Nashua High School in 1953 and from Nashua Business College in 1955. He also attended Northeastern University.
He enlisted in the New Hampshire Army National Guard in 1957 and was activated in 1961 during the Berlin Crisis.
In 1959, Duhamel started a real estate brokerage firm, Lehoullier & Duhamel Associates, and later formed Nuland Corp. with several partners. In 1966 he became the sales manager for Dana Patterson Inc., where he worked for more than 30 years.
He and his wife bought a winter home in Florida in 2003.
Duhamel is survived by his wife of almost 50 years, Denise; daughters Diane Duhamel, Lise Farley, Peggy Duhamel and Laura Roger of Bedford; son John Duhamel; three granddaughters; brothers Richard and Ronald Duhamel of Nashua; sister Elaine Duhamel; and several nieces and nephews.
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