Rick Geist graduated from Penn State University in 1965 with an associate’s degree in design technology and joined the EADS Group in Altoona as a consulting engineer and draftsman.

He left in 1978 for a projected “short” stint as a state representative, after winning election — but never went back.

Geist, who died this week at 74 of a heart attack while traveling with his wife, Jeannie, in Russia, instead spent 34 years in the 79th District drafting bills to fund, rather than blueprints to design, local infrastructure.

Before his defeat in the 2012 Republican primary — the victim of a conservative backlash against free spending government — Geist, for many years chairman of the House Transportation Committee, cooperated with other lawmakers in the area and throughout the state, both Republicans and Democrats, to help bring money here for bridges, roads like the 10th Avenue and Chestnut Avenue expressways, for school districts and in particular, for projects at the Railroaders Memorial Museum.

He did so by reaching out, according to those who knew him.

“He was part of a tag team that got things done,” said Bob Kutz, president of the Blair-Bedford Central Labor Council, which named him its Person of the Year in 2014. “He was a legislator’s legislator.”

He was a centrist, in contrast to those who have gravitated to extremes, said Jim Foreman, chairman of the Blair County Republican Committee.

“He was one of those guys who tried to strike a balance,” Foreman said.

He didn’t hesitate to work with his fellow Transportation Committee chairman — who was usually on the minority side, said former state Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr.

His office staffers knew not to ask the party affiliation of anyone who came for help, including many from outside the district — some from as far away as Maryland, said former co-office manager Sue Sidney.

With colleagues in the House, “he looked at them as individuals first and politicians second,” Eichelberger said.

When he learned of others’ misfortunes, he made it a point to offer condolences, often attending funerals, Eichelberger said.

Once in Harrisburg with Foreman, they learned that the wife of a close mutual friend had died, at which point Geist stopped “in his tracks, bringing everything to a screeching halt, to offer (the friend) support,” Foreman said. “It (would) have been easy to say, ‘I’m too busy,'” Foreman said.

He was a friend to workers, helping protect those who worked on the highways with stricter rules against speeding, Kutz said.

But he didn’t neglect his responsibilities to business, said Jim Foreman, president of the Blair County Republican Committee.

To the staff, “He was a boss, but we were family,” Sidney said.

He’d often take them to lunch at Waffle King or Lena’s Cafe, she said.

There, he’d “hold court,” even drawing in customers to listen “like a magnet,” she said.

He lost in the 2012 primary to John McGinnis, who criticized him during the campaign for his vote to approve a notorious pay raise in 2005, for accepting what McGinnis believes were overgenerous “per diems,” and for bringing “pork” — practices that McGinnis rejected during his three terms.

That 2012 primary divided the local party and got then-Blair County Republican Committee Chairman AC Stickel, who’d been neutral for the contest, “beat up pretty bad from both sides,” Stickel said.

Regardless, Geist “served long and served well,” Stickel stated. “He fought hard for his constituents.”

That effort paid off not only in infrastructure projects, but in money obtained for police and fire departments, community foundations and the arts, he said.

He also brought in money for many causes without getting public credit, Sidney said.

He got “millions” for the railroad museum, which might not even exist today without him, said former Executive Director Scott Cessna.

The projects included a quarter-roundhouse and turntable, which “added value and significance’ to the complex, Cessna said.

“Rick was the lead guy,” said former state Senate President Pro Tem Bob Jubelirer, who was part of Kutz’s “tag team,” along with U.S. Reps. Bud, then Bill, Shuster and other area state representatives.

“I can’t tell you we were very close friends, but we worked on things that were important for the (state Senate) district,” Jubelirer said.

And Geist’s piece of that district, the 79th, which includes Altoona, was the “800-pound gorilla” of his Senate territory, Jubelirer said.

Geist was a mentor to the man who followed McGinnis, Lou Schmitt.

“He was one of the first people to encourage me to seek this seat,” said Schmitt, still a freshman.

“‘Louie, you have to run,'” Geist said, Schmitt recalls. “‘I think you’ll accomplish more than I did.'”

“I thought (that) was high praise,” Schmitt said. Once Schmitt was in, Geist encouraged him to work for a seat on the Transportation Committee, and to seek the chairmanship of the Railroad Subcommittee. Schmitt succeeded on both counts.

“I think he really wanted to see an Altoona boy (in there),” Schmitt said.

Geist loved the area and loved what he did in the General Assembly, according to Stickel.

“Rick was a champion of Altoona,” Foreman said.

Bicycling was one of his special causes.

He helped create and run the International Tour de ‘Toona, a race that ran between 1987 and 2011, including 1992, when the Olympic road racing trials were held alongside it here, featuring eventual seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong — who was later stripped of those Tour de France titles for doping.

“(Geist) just had a vision that bicycling could and should be a notable presence in central Pennsylvania,” said John Frederick, a racer who was a little too far past his prime when the Tour began.

The Tour and the trials in 1992 became successes “because (Geist) was able to build all kinds of bridges” with the people he needed to make it happen, Frederick said.

Frederick, who has worked in recycling most of his career, helped make recycling a part of the trials, with the help of the kind of cooperation from Geist that exemplified the lawmaker’s openness to ideas “no matter what their political origins,” he said.

“He was more than willing and able to talk to people on the other side,” Frederick said. “We could use more of that these days.”

Geist also hinted at his talent for obtaining money for causes he believed in by his amusing admiration for Frederick’s mother, a “domineering” fundraiser for Bishop Guilfoyle High School — one who would readily shame potential donors into giving more than they wanted to.

“How’s your mother?” were invariably Geist’s first words of greeting, he said.

Geist was effective in part because of relationships cultivated with others, including former Gov. Tom Ridge, who was a repeat guest at Geist’s house in Altoona, according to Sidney.

“He was a hard-working and determined public servant in helping us pass a critical transportation bill during my time as governor,” Ridge wrote in an email Thursday. “(He) has had a long-term positive impact across Pennsylvania.”

He “keyed into a lot of important things in transportation,” said Professor Terry Madonna, a political analyst from Franklin & Marshall College.

Geist and Schmitt talked frequently, until, on Tuesday, Schmitt sent a text that, uncharacteristically, Geist didn’t answer immediately.

That answer he wanted to hear never came.