FORT KENT – The light in John Sinclair’s eyes twinkled with a sharp brightness, and memories of decades of the Maine woods spilled from his tongue as he sat on the porch of Rose Nadeau’s camp on Eagle Lake the last three summers.

His love of the Maine woods and rivers, which were a big part of the more than eight decades he spent on Earth, were always on his mind, and he spoke lovingly and openly of both to anyone who would listen.

He died Tuesday at age 86, leaving behind a legacy that some believe will live for decades. His management of Maine forests leaves policies that will protect them for years to come.

Sinclair also was known for his openness and honesty.

“His foresight in developing a land management company for the Pingrees lasts to this day,” John Cashwell, mayor of Bangor and president of the Seven Islands Land Co., said Wednesday. “He established Seven Islands Land Company in 1964, was its first president, and I feel privileged to be in his lineage as a president of the company.

“John was and is highly regarded in land and forest management,” Cashwell continued. “He was instrumental in the establishment of many forest practices and policies still in place today.”

Cashwell said Sinclair was respected by his peers and people in government. He was a counselor to several governors when it came to forest and land practices.

“He never gave up loving the forests and the people who worked in them,” Cashwell said. “Even after retirement he kept surfacing at different projects.

“He never quit giving advice about the quality and resiliency of Maine forests,” Cashwell said. “Many employees here at Seven Islands came on when John was president, and he will be remembered by many here as the good man he was.”

Sinclair was born in St. Francis, leaving school at the age of 16 to help raise a family during the Depression era. Returning to Maine after World War II, Sinclair went to work in the northern Maine woods as a manager for Pingree Heirs. He was also a fire warden. He later moved to Bangor and became Seven Islands Land Co.’s first president in 1964. He managed more than 1 million acres of timberland.

He was also a driving force behind the North Maine Woods, an association of private and public landowners who oversee wood harvesting policies and at the same time provide the largest recreational preserve in the world in the north Maine woods.

He received many awards for his work through the years. In 1977, the man who never graduated from high school was awarded an honorary doctor of science degree from Colby College.

Sinclair had retired to the Greenville area and returned to the St. John Valley in 2003 when he married a second time to Rose Nadeau, a retired Fort Kent businesswoman and a lifelong friend of Sinclair and his first wife, Mary Jane Baker Sinclair, also of St. Francis.

Sen. John L. Martin, D-Eagle Lake, met Sinclair when they worked on the creation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

“He was a true gentleman, a very honest person in his life and his views,” Martin said Wednesday afternoon. “You never had to guess what his opinion was or what he believed.

“What he told you was what he went by, no double talk,” Martin said. “He remained involved after his retirement in all kinds of projects. Many of them were helping others succeed at what they were doing.”

“He was unbelievable in that he could hold his own with the very wealthy, the best educated, and he had very humble beginnings,” Martin said. “He was an amazing person and a good friend.”