Tim Collins covering the Hanceville- Holly Pond football game in 2017.

Timothy Collins, the founder of local online news platform Cullman Today, died Monday after a brief illness

Funeral arrangements are set at Cullman Heritage Funeral Home. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at the funeral home. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Thursday at Cullman Heritage. Burial will follow at Hopewell Cemetery.

Launching the site only five years ago, Collins was an energetic and personable figure who quickly became a familiar and welcome face at a wide range of community events and at the scene of breaking news stories throughout Cullman County.

A North Carolina transplant, Collins gained the trust of many longtime locals through his involvement in community activities and projects beyond his work as a citizen journalist. Collins served the local United Way as a board member, was a member of Rotary, and regularly attended meetings and became widely respected among volunteer firefighters in the community.

United Way Executive Director Sammie Danford said Collins had served on the board for about 18 months at the time of his death, but that he’d made an immediate impact.

“He was great board member and really supported what United Way does in the community,” Danford said. “He has a great sense of humor and worked hard at the same time. One time, at Depot Days, he started the deal to ‘dunk the director’ when he put up $100 to get it started. We raised $2,000 in one day just from that.”

Danford said Collins regularly attended meetings, and always came to events to record stories to tell about United Way and the organizations serving the community.

“He was so easy to work with and just seemed to enjoy the community so much,” Danford said. “He was someone that you never heard a negative comment about. He worked and treated everyone well.”

Collins also had a flair, and, for those who knew him, a passion for catching up with breaking news events, particularly where law enforcement officers were on the scene.

Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry issued a statement Tuesday about Collins’ work and character: With the passing of my friend Timothy “Tim” Collins, we lost a great friend to the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement. When Tim came into our lives he exemplified the meaning of a true first responder. Tim would show up on scenes to report the news and sometimes would be the first person on scene. Tim would make me laugh because he was like a silent warrior that would magically appear out of thin air at an incident. One thing that I knew about Tim was that he was devoted to his family and his community. He loved both with all his heart and soul. As the Sheriff, I get to meet a lot of great people and Tim was one of the greatest. I will miss getting to see or talk with my friend but I am confident one day I will get to hear these words again from Tim: ‘Sheriff when you are ready lets tell the community what is going on.’” “It was a great honor to get to know, work with and befriend Timothy Collins over the last four years,” wrote Bradley Williams of the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. “As others have stated, he used Cullman Today as a voice to spread the news and would go out of his way to help us at the Cullman County Sheriff’s Office. I will miss my colleague but more importantly my friend!”

Collins’ death was announced on the Cullman Today Facebook page Monday night. His wife, Tiffany Abbott Collins, told a Times reporter that her husband “was my world and really one of a kind.”

On Collins’ Facebook page, the comments poured in from area residents and officials who knew him.

Among the comments:

Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail: The first few times I saw this guy was like who in the world is this and what is he doing. There are certain things that I am very passionate about and may get a little carried away sometimes. Tim would say mayor are you sure you want to say it that way. The community and I have lost a good friend. R I P Tim Collins

Megan Corbett: My heart is heavy after hearing the news of Timothy Collins’ passing. The first time I met Tim was at an open house for the career center. I took him to each classroom so he could have me give him a detailed run-down of what each shop concentrated on. He apologized profusely for keeping me so late, but I was just happy that I had the opportunity to help him. He was truly a great member of the tight-knit society that is Cullman. He never missed an event. There was one particular Veteran’s Day that he was sick (and it was pretty cold out…) but he trooped through and did the job that he loved. I hope his soul is able to rest easy now. He will be dearly missed by the countless people whose lives he’s touched over the years. R.I.P.

Waid Harbison: So sorry to hear about my good friend Timothy Collins passing away earlier today.

I had the privilege of being interviewed by Tim too many times to count, and we had a very close friendship with a lot of good memories. Tim selflessly cared for his community, and I watched him constantly serve and give back in any way he could to make the community a better place for all.

Meredith Ingram Easterwood: Timothy Collins captured life. He was everywhere. I loved knowing that I would see him at every event. His love of life and this community were contagious.