PEMBROKE – Sid Bahrt, a man who believed that each of us is responsible for the health and well-being of the earth died Sunday at age 91.

Bahrt’s firm commitment to the environment lasted until the day he died.

A native of New York, Bahrt for years ran his own advertising agency that he eventually sold to J. Walter Thompson.

While other ad executives were catering to clients, Bahrt could be found in Central Park, camera in hand, taking pictures of birds. Those photographs and others ended up in a book he wrote titled “Wilderness of Birds,” published by Doubleday in 1972.

Bahrt met his wife, Haze, while on a photo safari in Botswana in 1973. They were both avid shutterbugs. They later married and moved to Pembroke in 1974. Haze Bahrt died in 2001.

Their home in Pembroke was a collection of artifacts they had gathered from around the world including spears from Africa and masks from New Guinea.

Soon after he arrived in Pembroke he formed the Schoodic Chapter of the Maine Audubon Society. While serving as its program director he coordinated more than 250 programs and field trips. He retired in 2001.

In 1998, Bahrt was honored after he convinced state officials to give the city of Eastport $100,000 in oil-spill cleanup equipment to protect both the city’s port and marine life in Passamaquoddy Bay.

He was also instrumental in efforts to save the bald eagle, a five-year initiative that involved accompanying Bart the Eagle to 55 schools in Washington County. The U.S. Department of Interior later recognized his work.

Sid also served for five years on the Maine Oil Spill Commission in Augusta.

Friends remembered Bahrt Monday.

“Sid cared,” said longtime friend and environmentalist Nancy Nielsen. “He cared about kids and he cared about eagles. He cared about clean water and he cared about honesty. He believed in fairness and he believed in education. He didn’t live in some nameless space; he lived in Washington County. And he took the initiative in so many areas, but he didn’t need to be seen as a hero; the spotlight and the glory were not what motivated him. In a world where heroism is all too often a smash-bang out of your TV screen, Sid was a wonderful contrast – what one man, dedicated and caring could accomplish could set an example for us all.”

Among Bahrt’s battles was trying to stop an oil refinery and later a coal-fired power plant, from locating in Eastport. He also fought aerial pesticide spraying, acquifer contamination, uncontrolled mining proposals among other issues, Nielsen said.

Alan Brooks, executive director of the Quoddy Regional Land Trust in Whiting said Bahrt was a longtime personal friend of the trust. “In the early 1980s, he and his wife, Haze, were active with the Straight Bay Association, which opposed damming the area’s bays for tidal power. Out of this, the land trust formed with the aim of conserving some of our region’s most special places for people and wildlife,” Brooks said.

Bahrt’s photographs of birds helped the trust. “He was generous, too, freely letting the trust use many of his marvelous bird photographs for our publications and fundraisers,” Brooks added.

As a husband and wife team, friend Carol Bryan of Perry said Monday, they stood head and shoulders above others. “Their critical acclaim and support of any of us who spoke out regarding environmental issues was constant. Their interest and perception of what was going on and what needed to be done was insightfully precise,” she said.

Sandra Pottle of Perry called Bahrt an artist with a camera. “It wasn’t just taking a picture of a bird, he wanted the bird to be just right. It was like painting a portrait. It wasn’t just click and snap,” she said.

During his travels, Bahrt visited 28 countries, traveling to the Galapagos three times, and to India, China, Indonesia, and the Falkland Islands, as well as attending a “sing-sing” in Papua, New Guinea.

His bird and wildlife photographs have been exhibited at the Sierra Club in New York City, the Cornell University Lab, the Fordham University Lincoln Center Library, University of Maine and the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor.

His photographs have graced such publications as Maine Naturalist, the Audubon magazine and American Birds; his work is also prized by many private collectors.

During his lifetime he received countless awards and citations for his tireless pursuits on behalf of various causes.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 24, at the Pembroke Elementary School.