BAILEYVILLE – Flags flew at half-staff Wednesday in honor of a man who was remembered for the years he served in the Legislature and on the Town Council.

Tony Tammaro, 85, was at his home on Spruce Street on Tuesday night in Baileyville, or, as he loved to call it, Woodland, when he died of an apparent heart attack.

Tammaro served in the Legislature for 10 years, beginning in 1983.

When Tammaro left the State House, the Bangor Daily News wrote: “A former boxing champ and longtime basketball referee, Tammaro loved the House. [He] was a pugnacious, good-humored representative who would always greet you with a strong handshake and a slap on the back.”

One year later, he was elected to the Town Council. This past March, he was elected to a fourth three-year term on the council. For 47 years he worked for the Georgia-Pacific pulp and paper mill.

On Wednesday, people throughout the state paused to remember.

State Sen. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, who was House speaker during Tammaro’s tenure, said Tammaro believed strongly in the institution of the Legislature because he knew the good that legislatures and legislators could do, whether it would be for Washington County or for the whole state.

Another state leader Wednesday recalled one of Tammaro’s favorite expressions: “I call it as I see it.”

“Well, a lot of people are calling it as they see it today,” said Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce. “He was one wonderful man that we all are going to miss. They don’t make Tony Tammaros every day, that is for sure.”

Connors, who was state transportation commissioner while Tammaro was in the Legislature, said upgrading Route 9 was a Tammaro priority.

“His work was a reflection of the person. He was a proud person, persistent, great attitude; lived life to the fullest; and when he approached a project, he displayed the same characteristics,” Connors said.

“He was proud of the people he represented, and Route 9 became a reflection of what he thought was important to his people and its economy.”

At times, when environmental pressures had a negative impact on Route 9 reconstruction, Tammaro resorted to humor to diffuse a difficult situation. He once told the state Department of Transportation: “If people on your staff see a chickadee taking a bath in the middle of a road after a rainstorm, they call it a wetland.”

Tammaro also was a member of the Route 9 Committee, a loosely structured group of residents from Baileyville and Calais who worked for years on the road project.

Edmund Delmonaco, a representative of Thomas DiCenzo Inc. and member of the Route 9 Committee, said Tammaro also cared about his constituents. “He never let them down,” he said. “When they needed help from Augusta, he did the job.”

Nor was Tammaro afraid to take a stand alone. Last year, he broke ranks with the Baileyville Town Council and announced he favored building a third bridge in the region between Calais and St. Stephen, New Brunswick.

The remainder of the councilors backed a Baileyville site.

Town Council Chairman Doug Jones said Tammaro was a leader who cared about the elderly and the youth of the community. “He was just concerned about people,” he said.

And he cared about family. Brother Vince Tammaro said he owed his success as a businessman to his brother. “Way back when I started out, I didn’t have any money. And … as soon as [companies] found out he was my brother, they would give me all the credit I wanted. And he helped me a lot getting customers, just everything. So I attribute my success to my brother,” he said.

He is survived by his wife, Marjorie, and their four children, Barbara, Dorothy, Jane and Peter.