LAKE PLACID – A hiker died of an apparent heart attack on Friday, Aug. 2 while hiking Mount Marcy.

Peter Dauphinais, 63, of Pittsfield, Mass., collapsed about a mile below the summit. A member of his hiking party gave CPR to him, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

DEC assistant forest rangers, a backcountry steward, the Marcy Dam caretaker and two Adirondack Mountain Club summit stewards responded to the location. A state police helicopter, with one forest ranger as hoist operator, lowered another ranger onto the mountain. Two other forest rangers set up at the Lake Placid Airport to assist the operation and a fifth forest ranger was sent to Marcy Dam with a UTV.

Before the rangers reached Dauphinais, CPR was ceased on the advice of Adirondack Medical Center staff.

Forest rangers worked with state police helicopter crew to remove Dauphinais from the mountain and transported him to the Lake Placid Airport, where the Essex County coronor declared him dead.

The matter, as with all deaths on state lands, was turned over to DEC and state police investigators.

The forest ranger at Marcy Dam transported Dauphinais’s family and friends, who had been hiking with him, to their vehicles at Adirondack Loj trailhead.

Dauphinais worked at Plastipak, a plastic packing company in East Longmeadow, Mass., for many years, according to his obituary.

He “was a loving father, grandfather, husband, brother, and friend,” the obituary stated. “He enjoyed biking, hiking, kayaking, camping, painting and music. (He) leaves behind a legacy of his genuine love and kindness for people and nature.”