Andrew Dickerman of West Tisbury and East Providence, R.I., a Providence Journal photographer for 45 years, died unexpectedly in Bangkok, Thailand, on Valentine’s Day. He was 73. Since his retirement two years ago, he had made West Tisbury his full-time residence and volunteer work at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center a major part of his on-Island life.

He was born in New York city on July 3, 1942, a son of Abraham and Dorothy Dickerman. He attended several community colleges in New York, and his career in photography began at one of them. He began taking pictures of school soccer games and was hired away from school to be a photographer at a local newspaper. Some years later, in 1969, he joined the staff of the Providence Journal. There, his powerful images of inmates and conditions at the Ladd School for the Mentally Retarded led to the closing of the school. Equally powerful photographs of roads across the state, taken from the air during the 1978 blizzard, brought the attention of authorities to their lack of preparedness for such events.

A former colleague at the Journal remembered him for his passion about photography and ability to engage and capture the people he was photographing.

Around 1969 Andy discovered the Vineyard and set his sights on one day having an Island home. That finally happened in 1995, when he bought a house in Vineyard Meadows Farm. After that, each August he made sure that he was in West Tisbury to volunteer at the library book sale and enter baked goods at the Agricultural Fair. He was often a winner. Last summer, he won both blue and red ribbons for entries in bread and cake categories. He was exceptionally proud of his chocolate cake and his garlic bread, and frequently contributed his baked goods to events at the Hebrew Center. There he was always a volunteer when volunteers were needed, and is remembered for his challenging participation in Torah discussions.

Always an outdoorsman, he biked everywhere on the Vineyard — on ancient trails as well as bike paths. But there had been many long distance bike rides, too, including one from Burlington, Vt., to Montreal and back to Maine. Although he was seriously injured in a bike accident some years ago, as soon as he had recovered, he was back on his bike. There had also been mountain climbing expeditions in the White Mountains and in New York state. There had been boat adventures on a 35-foot Pearson Flyer he had owned in Rhode Island, and on a 51-foot boat he had helped sail from Camden, Me., to Falmouth.

On the Vineyard, Lambert’s Cove Beach and the Trustees of Reservations beach not far from his house were both favorite swimming destinations. Last summer he had bought a 12-foot Widgeon and was looking forward to Island sails on her this summer. He loved having visitors to his Island home and never tired of showing odd his favorite places and his favorite osprey-viewing sites. He played no instrument but loved music and was a tireless reader.

But travel adventures as well as outdoor adventures were always important to him. He never failed to enjoy the people he met on his journeys and he always emphasized how many good people there were in the world he had explored. He had traveled across the Sudan and in Egypt and Turkey, Mexico and Guatemala. He and his daughter Ariel had volunteered in 2012 in Guatemala at Common Hope, an organization there seeking to improve school enrollment and graduation rates.

For some time, he had looked forward to exploring Southest Asia, in particular Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam. In December, he had set out and enthusiastically backpacked and ferried across Myanmar, making friends with locals and fellow adventuresome international travelers. He sent regular Facebook accounts of his journey — the foods he was getting from roadside vendors, the sights he was seeing — to all his friends. Although he had lsong suffered from asthma, he happily continued his travels.. He was in Bangkok awaiting a visa to visit Viet Nam when he died.

He is survived by his daughter Ariel Summer Dorothy Dickerman, a student at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, and her partner, Bob Sommer, also a student there; a sister, Linda Dickerman and her wife Barbara Hirsch of Florida; and a cousin, Arlene Iozia.

A memorial service will be held Sunday at 4 p.m. at Congregation Agudas Achim, 901 North Main Street in Attleboro. A Vineyard memorial will be held this summer, at a time to be announced.