Maxine North

Maxine Woodfield North (, September 10, 1920 – October 3, 2003) was an American businesswoman who lived and worked in Thailand. She arrived in the country in 1950 with her husband Robert G. North, a screenwriter and reported CIA agent. Noted most for introducing bottled water to Thailand with her Polaris brand, her other businesses included carbon dioxide producer Pure Gas, consultant firm Rak, Fairbarns and North, and Thai Celadon, a company that helped revive and popularize celadon ceramics in Chiang Mai.

Early life and career North was born Maxine Olive Guldner on September 10, 1920, in Salem, Oregon, but grew up using the family name Woodfield, after her stepfather, who was a telephone line foreman. She graduated from Salem High School in 1938 and attended a secretarial school in her hometown. (A 1962 article says she received a degree in business administration from the University of Oregon.) before moving to Washington, D.C. in 1941, where she performed censorship work as chief clerk in the Information Control Branch of the Department of War. She later moved to California, where she worked as an executive secretary for Columbia Pictures in Hollywood. There, she met her future husband, Robert G. North, who was a screenwriter working on the 1948 film The Sign of the Ram.

In 1950, the couple moved to Thailand, where Robert co-founded the Far East Film Company. (Later sources from the 2000s would identify him as a CIA agent and describe the company as a cover for CIA operations in the country.) Maxine learned the Thai language, However, the marriage was cut short when Robert died suddenly of polio in 1954, after which Maxine returned to the United States. North had also established a radio station—the first English-language station in Thailand And in 1960, the two took over a struggling pottery factory in Chiang Mai and established the Thai Celadon Company to develop and market its celadon ceramics, which became a success in the export market.

With Pattaya's emergence as a tourist destination, North took part in the development of Nipa Lodge, the first hotel in the city, which opened in 1964. She had also helped found the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, She was friends with US President Richard Nixon—whom she and Robert campaigned for in the 1950 California Senate election and with whom she maintained written correspondence during his vice presidency

North, whom a 1957 interview described as "a nonsmoker, nondrinker, nonmeat-eater, nonbread-eater", regularly meditated and practiced yoga (following teachings of the Self-Realization Fellowship); her spiritual beliefs came following her husband's death. together with her mother-in-law, who had also been with the couple in the country before Robert's death.

North died on October 3, 2003, following a protracted illness. She is buried in the cemetery of the St. Nikolaus Catholic Church in Pattaya. The North Star Library in the city, initially stocked with her and Cykman's personal collections, is dedicated to their memories.