Phil Spagnuolo, drug recovery leader, dies at age 53

LACONIA — Philip Spagnuolo Jr., a former state representative and a leader in the addiction recovery community who committed his life to helping others after overcoming his own heroin addiction, died Tuesday, his daughter confirmed. He was 53.

He had been under treatment for a medical condition and put up a Facebook post early this month saying Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center had become his “new home away from home.”

An autopsy was being performed. Police said the death was not suspicious.

“He did so much for the community,” said Gabrielle Spagnuolo, his daughter. “He was so passionate about advocating for those with substance misuse and helping as many people and impacting as many as he could.

“He was absolutely always willing to help. He worked until he had an answer. That’s for sure.”

Spagnuolo was an early member of the team that organized Navigating Recovery, a nonprofit organization that has become a key facet in local efforts to help those with substance use disorder.

Mayor Andrew Hosmer, one of the founding members of the 5-year-old organization, remembers Spagnuolo playing a significant role.

“Phil was really teaching me the whole time on what the recovery community needed, what the obstacles are to recovery and what the potential was,” he said. “Navigating Recovery was crawling and shuffling along when he arrived on the scene along with other people. It is now one of the most successful recovery centers in the state thanks to people like Phil.”

Hosmer said he continued to depend on Spagnuolo through the years.

“Just in the past couple weeks, when I had people I knew were ready for recovery, my first call was to Phil,” Hosmer said. “I would explain the situation and ask for guidance or advice.”

Regardless of time of day or day of the week, Spagnuolo was ready to help.

“He’d do all the follow up work. He’d lay out an action plan and participate and get someone placed for care at the proper level, someone he didn’t know. That’s the type of person he was. He cared for others.”

The two men had a good friendship.

“Every time I left his presence, he left me with the biggest bear hug and would say to me, ‘I love you.’

“I’m not sure I said that in person, but I can tell you I loved Phil. He has had a tremendous impact on me and on my understanding of addiction and recovery.

“Politics can be an ugly business, but one of the highlights is I’ve had an opportunity to meet amazing people that enrich my life. He is one of them. I’m heartbroken that he is gone.”

Jacqui Abikoff, executive director of Horizons Counseling Center, said Spagnuolo knew how to maintain a positive attitude.

“Everybody goes through good times and bad times, but he always had a smile, even when things were hard,” she said. “He is going to be so missed by the treatment community and the recovery community.”

Spagnuolo moved with his family to Laconia after finishing sixth grade in Wakefield, Massachusetts.

He went to Laconia schools, played a lot of hockey and spent a year at Bishop Brady High School in Concord before going to Southern New Hampshire University, where he played hockey before getting into trouble with alcohol.

“I couldn’t play hockey any more,” he once said in an interview with The Laconia Daily Sun. “I got kicked out of school. Lost my scholarship. So I was like, ‘Forget this, I’m going somewhere warm.

“I was already into drinking pretty heavily and doing some drugs at that time. It didn’t mix with academics or athletics.”

He ended up in Miami, Florida, where he worked in the restaurant business for a dozen years while struggling with substance misuse.

Spagnuolo recalled hitting rock button on Dec. 15, 2015.

“I woke up, went to work and started thinking about how I would get what I needed to get through the day,” he said. “You see, I was a heroin addict by then. I was arrested that day and sent to jail for a couple months on a probation violation.”

After that, things began to change. He moved back to Laconia, tried his hand at running a restaurant and ultimately got involved in Navigating Recovery. He became a recovery coach, opened sober houses for men and was a business development specialist with Sobriety Houses of New Hampshire.

On Feb. 27, 2018, he won a special election to become a state representative. In the campaign, he was open about his personal recovery and advocated for helping those with substance abuse disorder. Nine months later he lost his re-election bid.

Last year, he lost a race to Harold French for state senator.

The good Spagnuolo did after turning his life around provides an important lesson, Hosmer said.

“It’s not the number of years that matter — it’s the life you pack into those years.”

Funeral arrangements are pending.