John Collins was no lightweight when it came to Adirondack issues. He was at least a fourth-generation Adirondacker and was involved in some of the most defining matters of Adirondack Park politics of the last 50 years.

Collins died of cancer at his home in Blue Mountain Lake on Friday, and many are mourning the loss of this educator, environmentalist and leader, on a local and regional scale. He was 79.

He served on the state Adirondack Park Agency board for 10 years and chaired it for three, from 1992 to 1995. Also in the 1990s he became a founding member of the Residents’ Committee to Protect the Adirondacks, a staunch green group which he eventually served as board president.

He was also a fifth-grade teacher for 26 years at Long Lake Central School, and he was deeply involved in numerous local institutions. He was on the staff and board of the Adirondack Museum (recently renamed Adirondack Experience), and was a member of the planning board of the town of Indian Lake, within which Blue Mountain Lake is a hamlet. He was involved in water quality efforts on Blue Mountain Lake and was a trustee of the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts in Blue Mountain Lake as well as the Northern Forest Center, which works throughout New York, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

“He was a friend to Blue Mountain Lake, the Adirondack Museum, the students he taught in Long Lake, a friend to me at the Park Agency, and remained a friend,” former APA commissioner Jim Frenette Sr. said Monday from his home in Tupper Lake. “His love and concern for the Adirondacks was evident in what he said and what he did. Even those who disagreed with him had to respect his positions because he was a genuine Adirondacker, and he certainly will be missed.”

Collins was a force in Blue Mountain Lake life.

“It’s like we lost our mayor, not a real mayor but the kind of mayor every small town wishes for,” Ben Strader, co-director of the Blue Mountain Center, wrote in an email. “It’s devastating for our town, I think. He was a role model to me. He thought so deeply about other people and he did the work to put that compassion into action.”

Strader, who also had occasion to see Collins while serving on the Indian Lake planning board, said what Collins had to offer at those public forums was, and still is, essential to a strong community.

“I saw John at many public meetings when he had a different opinion from almost everyone else in the room, and he was always able to make his case with dignity, humor and friendliness,” Strader said. “We need that so much right now, and he will be missed.”

Betsy Folwell, creative director and former head editor at Adirondack Life magazine, and a longtime Blue Mountain Lake resident, remembered Collins as a warm and integral part of the community.

“My husband Tom Warrington and I first met John and Ellen Collins one dark night more than 40 years ago when they were showing ‘Bad Day at Black Rock’ in their living room, the 16mm projector whirring away and popcorn and beer shared among the dozen-plus Blue Mountain Lake residents seated on the floor,” she wrote in an email. “We were new to town and wondered what magic kingdom had we wandered into. John was always ready to tell us about growing up at the Hedges, his hiking and hunting adventures, the other characters in our community, indoctrinating us into a way of Adirondack life that was all about respecting this extraordinary landscape for what it is and what it could be for the next wide-eyed newcomers.”

“John Collins was ubiquitous and I often thought of him as ‘Mr. Blue Mountain,'” David Oestreicher, who first met Collins on a family vacation in the 1970s and later worked with him on the board for the Adirondack Center for the Arts, wrote in an email. “He was always so approachable, everyman’s friend, or at least the one everyone seemed to want to be friends with. He was extremely hard working but easy going in his manner, always respectful to everyone, genuinely filled with concern for everyone, with a way of making everyone feel at ease.

“Even at the most tense filled meeting, John Collins had a way of getting everyone to share a laugh, and in that way gently bring everyone back to earth.”

David Kahn, executive director of the Adirondack Experience, who regularly saw Collins over the years, related his undeniability.

“John pretty regularly dropped by my office to chat about one issue or another,” Kahn wrote in an email. “It was a pleasure to see him and hard to believe that he won’t be appearing in my door any moment and calling out, ‘How are you, sir, do you have a moment?’ For him, everyone always did.”

Christine Pouch, executive director of the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, said Collins’ boat tours of Blue Mountain Lake fetched considerable revenue as fundraiser auction items.

“I will always remember John for his infectious smile, great hugs and always saying YES when anyone was in need,” she said.

“It has been the great privilege of my life to be John Collins’ friend and son-in-law,” said Peter Bauer, who married Collins’ daughter and is executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, and previously directed the RCPA. “Johnny made a difference in the lives of the many kids that he taught, in the community where he lived, in the organizations that he volunteered with, and in the state agency he helped lead. He made a difference in the lives of his family who loved him dearly. And he made a difference in the Adirondack Park that he loved.”

Staff Writer Antonio Olivero contributed to this report.