With the death last week of Bangor Village President Rob Gjertsen after a long battle with leukemia, the community lost one of staunchest advocates.

Besides being active in village government, Gjertsen was a longtime Lions Club member and former member of the Jaycees. He was also a Bangor School Board member, a member of the church council at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and a backer of youth athletic activities .

“He was always involved in some way with the community,” said Berdine Freit, who worked with Gjertsen for many years at Farmers State Bank, “and he was good at looking out for the betterment of the town.”

Richard Bedessem, who hired Gjertsen to work at Farmers State Bank, had high praise for his skills. “He was brilliant. He had a good mind, was self-motivated, ambitious and a good leader with strong organizational skills — plus he knew banking regulations better than anybody I ever knew,” Bedessem said.

“Besides all that,” Bedessem continued, “he had people skills — I can still hear that big ‘hardy-har’ laugh of his. I’d work with a guy like Rob anytime or anywhere — he was just a good guy to be around.”

In 2007, Gjertsen actually won the “Good Guy Award” at the Bangor Hootenanny. The event’s organizer, John McCue, said he believes it was well-deserved.

“He was just an overall good guy, and he did so much for the community, although he didn’t wear it on his sleeve,” McCue said.

Describing himself as the town’s “flaming liberal,” McCue said he and Gjertsen, a former member of the Republican National Committee, had their differences politically.

“He was a conservative so we’d debate often, but always civilly. I always appreciated that we could disagree on things, yet still respect each other,” McCue said. “Plus, he had a great sense of humor.”

According to McCue, who was on the planning committee at the time, Gjertsen was influential back when the community decided to build a new high school back in the late ’90s.

McCue also praised Gjertsen’s involvement with Village Park, the Lions and the area’s youth.

“His nickname was ‘Buck’ and he was always active behind the scenes in sports — for a while he even umpired softball games,” McCue recalled.

Gjertsen was elected village president in 2004 — the same year he was diagnosed with leukemia — and, despite a devastating illness that would have caused most people to quit the job, he performed the duties of village president for the next five and a half years, showing up for almost every meeting through October of this year.

Like many others, village employee Carol Hesselberg could not help but be impressed by the fortitude and quiet determination Gjertsen showed while performing his duties with a potentially fatal illness.

“I know he was in a lot of pain, but he always worked through it,” Hesselberg said. “There were times he came to meetings when he didn’t feel up to it, but he never gave up and he never complained. He fought a really hard fight.”

Freit, who has been working part time for the village after retiring from the bank, echoed Hesselberg’s comments: “He tried his darndest and he absolutely did not complain — even when he could hardly walk. He just amazed me!”

Gjertsen’s absence will mean changes at Bangor Village Hall. According to Village Clerk Shelly Miller, the board must choose one of its members to serve out the remainder of Gjertsen’s term as president.

The new president will come from the ranks of the trustees and that person will then have the option of appointing a replacement to serve out the remainder of his or her term.

Re-elected last spring, Gjertsen’s term would have expired in 2012.

Regardless of who takes over the position, they will have some big shoes to fill.

Greg Peterson, who’s served as president pro tem the past few months, said he’s known Gjertsen a long time and has great respect for what the man accomplished.

“I think he did an excellent job (as village president). I’ve known him for years and he was good at whatever he did,” Peterson said. “I don’t think I could have put up with all the pain he must have gone through. No matter who gets the job, they won’t be as knowledgable as Rob.”

According to Bedessem, Gjertsen’s absence will be felt far beyond village hall. “Bangor will miss a man like that — it isn’t easy to replace someone who will give so much of their time to the community and expect nothing back.”