Lake George mourns loss of lake advocate

Jeff Killeen led board of Fund for Lake George and then Lake George Association after the two organizations merged

By Mike Goodwin, Times Union

LAKE GEORGE — Jeff Killeen, a driving force behind the ecology and preservation of Lake George, died Tuesday morning.

Killeen, a retired information services and digital media executive, was the volunteer vice chairman of the board of the Lake George Association. He lived year-round in Diamond Point and for years pushed for the protection of the lake.

“Right now all I can say is that we all lost a friend, a leader and the greatest champion for Lake George that we’ll ever know,” Peter Menzies, the chairman of the association’s board of directors wrote in an email.

Last year, Killeen and Menzies completed an effort to merge The Lake George Association and the Fund for Lake George. At the time, Killeen chaired the Fund’s board and was chosen as chairman for the merged organization which kept the Lake George Association name.

The two watchdog organizations for years advocated for the health of the pristine “Queen of American Lakes” but the decision to merge was cemented by the first documented algal bloom to hit the lake. Blooms can discolor the lake and turn toxic.

“We were on the goal line, but that pushed us over the goal line, if we needed a push,” Killeen told the Adirondack Explorer in 2021, months after the first bloom was discovered. 

Killeen and Menzies were discussing the merger at the time the bloom occurred on the eastern side of the lake in November 2020.

Killeen worked with a number of companies over the years. He was the chief operating officer of a joint venture between the Los Angeles Times and Pacific Bell Telephone before becoming CEO of barnesandnoble.com. The Business Review reported that Killeen built the business from nothing, taking it public in 18 months.

He went on to lead forbes.com and, in 2002, founded GlobalSpec, an Albany-based technology firm.

Killeen also served on the St. Lawrence University board of directors. A 2019 news release announcing his appointment to the board stated that he was a 1975 graduate of the college.