FOLEY, Ala. — Stan Mahoney’s heart transplant would have been 13 years ago this coming December. No one will probably ever know how long he beat the odds with a tricky heart due to his love for and dedication to Wolf Bay Watershed Watch.

Mahoney, who was 47 when he received the heart of a 21-year-old donor during a seven-hour surgical procedure in 1996, died at his home Monday morning. While there is no official pronouncement regarding the cause of death, Mahoney had suffered from increased health issues of late related to the heart he received at the UAB Heart-Lung Transplant Center more than a dozen years ago.

During the past several years, it was not uncommon to see Mahoney at public meetings sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a protective mask as he spoke on some environmental concern.

Usually that concern had a tie to Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, the agency he was serving as executive director at his death. It was under Mahoney’s leadership that Wolf Bay was designated an “Outstanding Alabama Water” in 2007 by the Alabama Environmental Management Commission.

The OAW classification signifies high quality water and an exceptional water resource for ecological and recreational usages.

In a Tuesday e-mail from Tom Herder of Mobile Bay National Estuary Program, Herder called Mahoney an “outstanding environmental activist.” He also noted Mahoney’s efforts to address stormwater treatment “and many other environmental issues that required the dedication and commitment that distinguished him.”

Mahoney was chairman of the Community Action Committee of Mobile Bay National Estuary Program’s Management Conference and served on its Executive Committee, as well as serving on the Steering Committee of the Baldwin County Watershed Coalition, Herder said.

Foley Mayor John Koniar told those present at Monday’s city council meeting about Mahoney’s death that morning.

“Stan was a champion of our environment in South Baldwin County and will be hard to replace,” Koniar said on Tuesday morning.

“He was a good guy and a great partner and will be missed by all of us.”

Paul Ware, who is in his first term as president of Wolf Bay Watershed Watch, echoes Koniar’s sentiments.

“Stan was probably one of the strongest advocates for lower Baldwin County and Mobile County too in protecting and preserving what we have,” Ware said on Tuesday morning.

“He was the most mission-oriented person I have ever met. He has been the face of Wolf Bay Watershed Watch on a number of fronts.”

Ware also said Mahoney had a keen eye for the money that eco-tourism could bring to the area.

“He always had the best interest of all of us at heart.”

In an interview in January 1997 with Gulf Coast Newspapers, Mahoney said his heart problems began in 1986 when he was 36.

“I was a commander in the U.S. Navy at the War College in charge of the research program,” he said then.

“I was flying around a lot and had a big, stressout heart attack.”

Seventy-five percent of Mahoney’s heart was damaged by the attack. A triple by-pass was needed at the time, but a double was all doctors could perform.

More complications ensued and in May 1987 Mahoney was given a medical discharge from the Navy. Mahoney’s grandparents once owned Wolf Bay Lodge and, with that point of contact, he and his wife, Jessy, moved from Anapolis, Md., down to Baldwin County.

While he worked locally for a while with Wayne Trawick Builders Inc., other heart-related issues followed and he was on standby for a donor heart for approximately 10 months. As he said in 1997, on Christmas Eve (1996) at 3:30 a.m., he learned a heart was available - “a good, strong heart that belonged to a 21-year old.”

Mahoney spoke of the need to educate the younger generation about the importance of organ donorship.

He said in 1997, “The good Lord doesn’t want your organs in heaven. He’s got your soul.”

Funeral arrangements were unknown at the time this story was written.