Longtime Chester County resident Thomas Hickey Sr., a passionate advocate for animals and the underserved, died of a stroke at Jefferson Hospital on Sunday aged 61, writes Mari A. Schaefer for Philly.com.

Hickey leaves behind a legacy of legislation that outlawed inhumane conditions inside Pennsylvania puppy mills.

Former Gov. Ed Rendell, who appointed Hickey to Pennsylvania’s Dog Law Advisory Board ten years ago, said that canines in the state have every reason to be sad, as they have lost a great champion.

The legislation, praised as one of the strictest in the country, forbids the use of stacking cages and rabbit hutches, wire flooring, as well as non-professional euthanasia methods in commercial breeding facilities.

“He understood how to activate public pressure to improve laws and to force elected officials to enforce those laws,” said Marsha Perelman, who served with Hickey both on the Dog Law Advisory Board and the board of the Chester County SPCA.

Hickey, who worked at Vanguard Group for 18 years, was born in Philadelphia and grew up in Delaware County attending Delaware County Community College before studying business management at Villanova University and The Wharton School.

His wife, Sharon Hickey, passed away from cancer in January at aged 59. He is survived by his two children, his mother Mary Malin, and his two sisters Celle Hickey and Rosemary Thomas and brother Dan Hickey.