Ted Fithian could accomplish more in one day than most people could in a week.

The mayor of Bradford Woods for the past 26 years, Mr. Fithian also dedicated nearly 40 hours a week to his favorite organization, The Woodlands Foundation. Although retired from his full-time profession as a civil engineer, Mr. Fithian never retired from life, his family and friends said.

He was always there when he was needed, even if it was to fix a leaky sink in the Bradford Woods municipal building, said Mary Ann Moretti, borough manager, who worked with Mr. Fithian for eight years.

"We'll get another mayor, but we'll never get another Ted," she said.

Mr. Fithian died Tuesday evening after a heart attack. He was 80.

"My dad went to Valley Forge Military Academy, which created a work ethic in him that you just don't see anymore," said his daughter, Amy Woolard, of Atlanta. "He had a can-do attitude and believed he could do whatever he set his mind to, and he always did."

He was born March 30, 1928, and grew up in New Jersey. He married his wife, Martha, in 1948, shortly before being called to service during World War II.

Mr. Fithian served stateside during the war with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division for four years.

After leaving the service, he and his wife moved to the South Hills of Pittsburgh and later to Bradford Woods. Mr. Fithian worked as a civil engineer for Chester Engineers, of Pittsburgh, before helping found KLH, an engineering firm. He retired in 1998 after 40 years as a civil engineer.

Mr. Fithian served on Bradford Woods council from 1964 to 1972 and was elected mayor in 1982.

"He was a very active person and he always had been involved with the community," his daughter said.

He took a special interest in two organizations -- the Spina Bifida Association of Western Pennsylvania and The Woodlands Foundation, a facility that straddles Bradford Woods and Marshall and offers programs for people with disabilities.

"When he retired, he was home with my mom, got itchy for something to do, and this is what he found," Ms. Woolard said. "He and my mom lived just a street away from [the Woodlands], so he went down there one day to see if he could volunteer in some way. It turned into a nearly full-time job for him."

Peter Clakeley, the foundation's executive director, agreed.

"He was the biggest advocate in the world for this camp. There wasn't a building on this campus that he didn't touch in some way to help improve it," Mr. Clakeley said.

"In my opinion, he has helped to rebuild this camp that was once an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan," Ms. Woolard said.

Mr. Clakeley said one of the most recent projects on the Woodlands campus that Mr. Fithian helped create is an apartment building designed for 14 people who have spina bifida. The building is set to open next month. Mr. Clakeley said the foundation plans to dedicate the building in Mr. Fithian's name.

Mr. Fithian continued to work at the foundation until the day he died.

"He knew all the kids there," his daughter said. "They loved him and he loved them."

Mr. Fithian also belonged to several organizations, including the Environmental Engineering Intersociety Board; the Bradford Woods Volunteer Fire Department, where he formerly served as chief; the American Waterworks Association; the Pennsylvania State Mayors Association; the National Society for Professional Engineers and the Pennsylvania Society for Professional Engineers; and the Water Environment Federation.

He also was an active member of Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church in Marshall.

In 2000, he was named a Community Champion by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, AT&T and Eat'n Park.

Mr. Fithian held a bachelor of arts degree in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York.

In addition to his daughter and his wife, he is survived by two other daughters, Gail Robinson, of Columbia, S.C., and Dana Lee, of Atlanta; a son, Ted Fithian Jr., of Atlanta; a sister, Barbara Dunlap, of the state of Washington; brother, David Fithian, of Ann Arbor, Mich.; nine grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Services were scheduled to be held yesterday at Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church.