PORTLAND — Ivan Suzman was a political activist who led a controversial campaign that advocated for the Maine State Retirement System to divest $120 million in investments in South Africa as part of an international campaign to end apartheid there.
He was a longtime advocate for a cure for Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Suzman died on March 14 after a 28-year fight with the disease. He was 62.
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Mr. Suzman was remembered by his friends on Tuesday as a driven, sincere and intense person, who fought for racial justice and social equality.
His passion stemmed from the years he lived and worked in the Republic of South Africa. From 1973 through 1979, he was part of a paleoanthropology research team at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. As a graduate student, he got an opportunity to work with Louis, Mary and their son Richard Leakey at their famous archaeological digs at Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania.
Mr. Suzman taught at the school during the 1976 Soweto riots. State Rep. Herb Adams of Portland said on Tuesday that Suzman saw firsthand the injustices that his students experienced.
“When Ivan returned from teaching in South Africa, he was so moved by what he had seen,” Adams said. “He told me that when students got too noisy, they would vanish. Students disappeared from his class under the old apartheid system. He felt that New Englanders should do more to protest this kind of injustice, even in a part of the world half a world away.”
Mr. Suzman founded the Maine Project for South Africa and led the campaign during the 1980s and 1990s to end Maine State Retirement System investments in South Africa.
Adams said Suzman organized protests and led picket lines at the former Citibank in Portland’s Old Port.
At the time, divestiture movements were happening across the U.S. Adams said that Maine was a leader in the movement.
“True to our abolitionist roots, Maine was one of the most active states in America in the anti-apartheid movement,” Adams said. “We passed a great deal of legislation on the subject.”
Mr. Suzman taught at the University of New England’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. In the 1980s, he taught sociology, anthropology and biology at Bowdoin College.
He was active in local politics. He was a member of the NAACP Portland branch and the Maine Democratic Party.
Adams said that he worked with Suzman in the 1980s on the committee that founded Portland’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day breakfast and celebration. Suzman also worked to persuade the Legislature to make King’s birthday a state holiday.
“He was very proud of serving on that committee,” Adams said.
In 2000, he ran unsuccessfully for the Maine Senate District 27 seat, which encompasses Falmouth, Long Island and part of Portland. In 2002, he fell short in votes for a seat on Portland’s City Council.
Mr. Suzman was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1984. Soon after, he focused on raising awareness and money for research.
He testified in Augusta on disability legislation and was instrumental in getting a bill passed that increased research funds for Parkinson’s disease.
In recent years, he was the Mary’s Mailbag editor for the Maine Parkinson Society’s online publication.
“He fought Parkinson’s as long and hard as his body could take,” Adams said. “He fought Parkinson’s like he fought apartheid. One of those fights he won.”
Staff Writer Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at: mcreamer@pressherald.com
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