Through the force of personality, journalist Peter Freyne brought color, passion and humanity to the discussion of public affairs in Vermont. His death at 59 on Wednesday was a quiet ending to a life that was far from quiet.

Freyne was not a perfect fit in Vermont journalism. Vermont journalists ordinarily carry out their job in an understated, professional fashion, eschewing the overt display of personality more common in urban settings.

Freyne broke the mold. The column he wrote for Seven Days, called "Inside Track," was irreverent, snide, funny, snarky, gossipy, and sometimes over the top. But it was also an important contribution to an understanding of Vermont life and politics.

If Freyne's journalism had only been about his personality, it wouldn't have lasted. But he did his work. And when he got his teeth into a story, he held on tenaciously. Sometimes he overdid it, and sometimes he apologized.

No one was above Freyne's mockery. St. Patrick, Ho-Ho, Straddlin' Madeleine, Governor Scissorhands — the monikers he deployed for Vermont's political figures came with equal parts affection and derision. To treat our political leaders with irreverence reminds us that we are a democracy. They are not royalty. They work for us. (The editorialist for this page did not escape Freyne's mockery, and when a reporter at the Herald came to his defense, Freyne mock-apologized and redoubled the mockery.)

Freyne fashioned himself a champion of the people and took pride in his Irish roots. He wrote an affecting portrait of his father, who had been active with the Irish Republican Army as a young man. You had the sense that Freyne carried the burden of Ireland's struggle within himself, that he wanted to make the bigwigs pay.

Freyne became a regular fixture on "Vermont This Week," the news roundup program on Vermont Public Television, where his humor loomed large. Most of the journalists who appear on the program count themselves successful if they manage to be coherent. Freyne was striving for the more sublime place where wit combined with insight.

In some ways Freyne became a prisoner of his personality. His humor strayed into offensive territory at times, which is why he lost his briefly held position as press secretary for Gov. Madeleine Kunin. Sometimes, too, he took offense too quickly. He has been described as prickly. But friends with patience knew he had a good heart.

Not everybody could pull off what he did. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and to invite the scorn of others. Shay Totten, his successor as political columnist at Seven Days, has done a good job preserving the professional standing of the column without trying to imitate the inimitable that was Freyne's style.

Since defeating cancer, Freyne had withdrawn from journalism. This past fall he fell victim to a brain infection. What he left us with is the sense that Vermont is a community of people we can know, with all their pretensions, foibles and gifts. Peter Freyne's voice — irascible, provocative, and funny — was an important part of the conversation for many years.

His passing drains a bit of the color from the scene.