Charles Bragg II had a straightforward philosophy that guided his service in Bangor. It roughly translates to this: If you want a better community, do something about it. For decades, Mr. Bragg, who died Tuesday at the age of 96, turned that philosophy into action, serving on numerous boards and supporting community projects.

“Civic leadership has much more to do with commitment and duty than power,” Mr. Bragg said five years ago when he was profiled by the Bangor Daily News as one of the region’s leaders.

“It’s simple really. You want to have nice things in your community, and someone has to do the work to get those things done,” he said.

In his nine decades, Mr. Bragg did the work. He served for nearly a half century on the board of directors of the Bangor Public Library. He succeeded his father and grandfather, and his son, Frank, currently sits on the library board.

He also spent a half-century on the board of Mount Hope Cemetery and was a trustee at Bangor Theological Seminary for nearly a quarter of a century. He served decades on the board of Community Health and Counseling Services, was chairman of New England Home Healthcare and Eastern Maine Charities.

He served three terms on the Bangor school committee and helped oversee the construction of the new Bangor High School in the early 1960s. He was also a member of the State Board of Education and served on the University of Maine Development Council, although he was not an alumnus of the Orono campus.

He was given the Norbert X. Dowd Achievement Award by the Greater Bangor Area Chamber of Commerce in 2004.

Born in 1910, Mr. Bragg graduated from Amherst College. He declined his father’s offer to send him to Harvard Business School and returned to Bangor to work in the warehouse at N.H. Bragg & Sons, a company founded by his great-grandfather, Norris Hubbard Bragg, in 1854.

The company originally supplied blacksmiths, selling coal, anvils, buggy parts and other supplies. Today the company sells safety and janitorial supplies, welding gases and other industrial equipment. Mr. Bragg was president of the company from 1951 until his retirement in 1980. His son, John, is now president.

John Bragg recalled his father stressing that participation was as important as attendance. “I very distinctly remember learning that if you sign up for something you do it.”

“It’s not just about belonging, it’s about commitment and active participation,” he said.

It was a lesson Charles Bragg taught by example.