Alvin J. Eyre, who channeled the qualities that brought him success selling life insurance into community service volunteering, died March 14 in ProMedica Ebeid Hospice Residence, Sylvania. He was 80.

He had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, said his wife, the Rev. Carolyn Jean Eyre.

Mr. Eyre, with offices on West Central Avenue, was an agent for American General Life and its predecessor firm. He retired in 2000.

“He had leadership qualities, and he was a good talker,” his wife said.

The company honored his sales record with awards and rewarded it with trips. He and his wife especially enjoyed vacations to New Orleans and the Bahamas.

His wife, who worked for the late John Garcia, former Republican state representative, has run for the Toledo and state boards of education and Ohio House of Representatives. Mr. Eyre helped out, going door-to-door or standing on corners to collect signatures so that his wife had a place on the ballot.

“It was teamwork,” his wife said.

And he encouraged her each time she pursued public office.

“He said, ‘Keep going. Each time, you learn more,’ ” Mrs. Eyre recalled.

He also was a campaign volunteer for former Toledo Mayor Carty Finkbeiner.

He started community volunteering nearly a decade before retiring, he told The Blade in 2002. Contact with others mattered to him, which is why he chose to help senior citizens with household repairs over addressing envelopes in some agency’s office.

“I like being out with people, and to know that I’m doing something for the community,” Mr. Eyre told The Blade.

He handed out water at Toledo Road Runner events. He sold tickets to such charity events as the Rib-Off. He was out the door at 6 each morning of the Jamie Farr Classic LPGA tournaments so he could pitch in. He tutored children in reading.

One boy at Oakdale School was to get an award and asked Mr. Eyre to be present. The boy’s father was incarcerated and his mother disabled.

“I was his tutor and he felt good that someone was there representing him,” Mr. Eyre said in 2003. “We may not get a million dollars, but the gratitude of children and their smiles are worthwhile.”

He was a graduate of the Toledo police department’s ambassador program. He also helped out at gatherings and forums held by the city’s Board of Community Relations.

“His talent was being with people,” said Juanita Greene, a former Board of Community Relations executive director. “When you would see Al Eyre walk in, he would be there with the biggest smile and say, ‘What can I do to help?’ ”

Mr. Eyre and Norman Bell became acquainted through volunteering.

“He was an individual you could chat with,” Mr. Bell said. “He had a very warm personality. He was interested in what I was interested in, establishing helping relationships.”

A dedicated amateur photographer, Mr. Eyre captured family life, including highlights of the Eyres’ children as they grew. When son Bob played football for Start High School, “I think he had a picture of every move that boy made on the field,” Mrs. Eyre said.

Mr. Eyre also documented the events for which he volunteered, from campaign trail to golf tournament.

He was born May 16, 1935, the youngest of nine, to Emma and William Eyre. He grew up in South Toledo and was a 1955 graduate of Libbey High School, where he and Carolyn Szul were sweethearts.

He served in the Air Force, assigned to intelligence duty in Omaha. “He could never tell me what he did. I never found out,” his wife said.

He worked briefly at the former Chevrolet plant on Central Avenue before becoming an insurance agent.

The Eyres’ daughter, Patricia, died in infancy.

Surviving are his wife, Carolyn, whom he married July 4, 1959; sons Bob, Alan, Joe, and Bill; daughter, Julie Broshious; seven grandchildren, and and two great-grandchildren.

Memorial services will be at 3 p.m. April 3 in Bible Temple Church on Airport Highway.

The family suggests tributes to the church day care.

Contact Mark Zaborney at: mzaborney@theblade.com or 419-724-6182.

First Published March 25, 2016, 4:05 a.m.