Former councilor Totman remembered with admiration

BREWER – As Bangor’s youngest mayor and a representative in the state Legislature, James Totman established himself as a devoted civil servant, former officials recalled Friday.

Totman, a decorated war hero, died last Saturday at age 81.

“Jim wanted to do the best he could for the city and for the state,” former council member Don Soucy said Friday. “Many good people have worked for the city and he was one of them.”

Born in Baltimore, Md., and educated at Exeter Academy and Cornell University, Totman served as an aide-de-camp to a general in World War II.

After the war, Totman returned to Bangor and served four years on the City Council beginning in 1949 and ending with a stint as council chairman in 1952.

Soucy, 71, always regarded the former mayor as being people-oriented.

“Working with others is how councilors get things done and I think Jim was one of the workers,” Soucy said, adding that he didn’t get to know the former mayor on a personal level until recently.

During the time when the construction of the Bangor Auditorium was the hot issue, Totman did an admirable job maintaining visibility with his constituents, Soucy said Friday.

“You’d have nine councilors in this city and many citizens might not be able to name more than two or three,” Soucy said. “Well, Jim was one of the ones people would name. He was a hard worker.”

He also went on to serve four terms in the Maine State Legislature. In 1957, Totman relocated to Geneva, Switzerland, where he started an international relocation firm, Property Search.

He made an effort to drop by City Hall whenever he visited the United States, according to Merle Goff, who originally served as a purchasing agent when Totman was on the council. While serving as city manager from 1966-76, Goff saw the overseas entrepreneur on more than one occasion.

“Any time he came back, he always had an interest in what was going on,” Goff said Friday. “He had ideas about the waterfront and urban development and what he’d like to see done in the city. He always maintained an interest even though he was overseas.”

Totman moved to Brewer in 1999.

Those wishing to remember Totman may make donations to the Joyce Stevens Drama Collection, Collection Development Department, Fogler Library, University of Maine, Orono 04469.