While Hollywood mourns the loss of legendary actor, director, race-car driver, entrepreneur and philanthropist Paul Newman so do a number of local charitable organizations that he helped support.

Newman passed away from complications with lung cancer Friday, Sept. 26 at his longtime home in Westport, Connecticut. He was 83.

The Academy Award-winning actor gained stardom in the 1950s and his work on such classic films as “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” and “The Color of Money,” made him one of the most well known and respected actors in Hollywood. Aside from Newman’s ability to touch people’s lives on screen, he was also able to touch the lives of those who were less fortunate through his philanthropy work, which included Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch in Lake Luzerne and the artist community, Yaddo, in Saratoga Springs.

Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch was founded in 1992 by Newman and local philanthropist Charles Wood. It was the second in a family of camps that aimed at providing specialized camping and year-round support for children and their families dealing with life-threatening illnesses. Today, the organization has turned into the largest of its kind in the world.

Max Yurenda became executive director and CEO of Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch when the camp first opened. He said over the years Newman had been critical to the camp’s mission.

“He certainly looked at his success as partially due to luck and good fortune,” Yurenda said. “He had the heart to say I am going to give back to society and help those in greater need.”

Newman initially visited the camp on an annual basis, but as the camp started to grow in numbers and as his time and commitment got really stretched out, it was harder for him to visit, Yurenda said. However, according to Yurenda when he would come to visit it was one hundred percent to see the kids and the staff working with them.

“He did not want to have big board meetings – he wanted to see camp in action,” he said.

His last visit to the area was in 2006 when he attended a fundraiser in Saratoga Springs to help support the ranch.

The goal now, according to Yurenda, is a rededication to Newman’s vision for the camps.

“He is going to be missed terribly, but bottom line is these camps are so focused on ensuring that nothing is going to happen other than forward progress to help keep his dreams alive,” he said

“We are not going to miss a step and that is what he would have wanted.”

As important as Newman was to the Double H Hole in the Woods Ranch, he was also vital to the continuing success of the local artist community Yaddo. Revenue incurred from his “Newman’s Own” food line that included lemonades, salad dressings and popcorn went toward Yaddo and various other charitable causes he supported around the world.

Yaddo President Elaina Richardson said he was one of the first people to give the organization a residency specifically for film. He recognized how younger artists had adapted story telling into filmmaking and he wanted to make sure the organization was keeping up with that trend, so he funded a residency for a filmmaker that in turn allowed Yaddo to send out information to a whole community of filmmakers, Richardson said.

“He helped us with the writer and actor’s guild to make sure people knew about us,” she said. “He also gave to benefits and general operating, so he was a big fan”

While Newman’s legacy will live on in the area through his charitable work, on a more personal note, Yurenda said what he will remember most about him was his genuine compassion toward people and his humbleness.

“This was a man that given the chance could have moved mountains,” he said. “He set such a wonderful example for all of us to really take a step back and say, ‘what can I do to make society better.’”