Bangor consumer advocate Supranovich dies at 60

John Supranovich believed you should get what you pay for. For 33 years, Bangor’s top consumer advocate and a small band of volunteers worked to recoup losses for more than 300,000 Mainers bilked, scammed and cheated out of their money.

Often referred to as the consumer’s superhero minus the cape, Supranovich frequently went without a paycheck to keep Northeast COMBAT operating.

Supranovich, 60, died Monday after apparently taking his own life at a small cabin he owned in Standish.

“For over 30 years, John was an aggressive crusader [for] consumer rights,” Gerry Palmer, former president of the board of Northeast COMBAT and a former Bangor city councilor, said. “His loss is a large loss. It’s a loss to his family, this community and consumers all across the country, really.”

Board members were still reeling Tuesday from the news, but current board President Edward Steltzer said Supranovich’s meticulous record-keeping and organization would allow COMBAT to continue without him.

“John sacrificed immensely for this organization, sometimes going without pay so that we would have the money needed to pay the bills,” Steltzer said. “He believed strongly in fair and open mediation and was always a champion of the consumer.”

Steltzer and Supranovich were friends for 25 years, and Steltzer called him a man of “great integrity.”

“He was very forthright and compassionate, and if someone needed help, John was the very first one in line,” he said.

It was in 1972 while working as a radio announcer at WLBZ radio that Supranovich realized there was little help for consumers who felt they had been cheated by businesses.

In published interviews, Supranovich said he first became aware of the problem when listeners would call the station with questions about products advertised on the show.

“When I tried to help, I could find no state or federal agency that would deal effectively with individual consumer complaints. I felt helpless,” he said.

He gathered a few friends in his Essex Street apartment, and Northeast COMBAT, Consumers of Maine Bringing Action Together, was formed.

COMBAT is now the oldest grass-roots organization of its type in the country.

Supranovich was born in Portland and graduated from the University of Maine in 1967. He spent two years on active duty with the U.S. Army as a psychiatric social worker in the Heidelberg Military Hospital.

He worked for six years as an announcer at WLBZ radio and hosted a regular afternoon music show.

He served as chairman of the Bangor City Council’s drug education committee and the Maine Commission on Drug Abuse.

Then-Gov. Kenneth Curtis appointed him to the board of the Maine Comprehensive Planning Council.

U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said in a statement Tuesday: “I am deeply saddened to learn of John’s passing. He has been a tireless advocate for consumers in the greater Bangor region, and his passion and talent will be sorely missed.”

In 1978, Supranovich and then-Bangor Daily News editorial writer Mark Woodward began Consumer Forum. The column, which responds to consumer problems and educates consumers on their rights, runs Mondays on the BDN’s Business page.

On Tuesday, Steltzer said that Supranovich wrote many of the columns himself, but that interns and other volunteers also wrote many of them. “The column will continue,” he said.

“The column has directly helped hundreds of consumers over the years, and in that sense it has been mutually rewarding for the newspaper and Northeast COMBAT,” said Woodward, now the BDN’s executive editor.

“John was Northeast COMBAT,” Palmer said. “He even had the word COMBAT on his license plate. John was a great guy with a name no one could pronounce. He was funny and loved a good joke, and boy, he’s really going to be missed.”

Supranovich is survived by his wife, Editha Supranovich, and three daughters.

The time and date of a memorial service will be announced at a later date.

Donations in his memory can be made to Northeast COMBAT Inc., P.O. Box 1183, Bangor 04402-1183. Restricted donations to Supranovich’s family also can be made through Northeast COMBAT.