Mark Hopkins, who grew up in Mt. Airy and still lives there, is the chief of an all-volunteer organization, Greater Philadelphia Search and Rescue (GPSAR), dedicated to finding lost people using the most efficient means possible. For the last 50 years, the group has assisted local families by returning loved ones home safely or in many tragic cases, helping to locate a deceased person so that the family may finally have closure.

Formerly a firefighter and EMT, Hopkins has been a missing-person sleuth for 30 years and has led the group, which currently has 15 other volunteers, for the last 20 years.

“I’m not the only one who obsesses about these missing people,” he told the Local last week. “The other volunteers do, too. I don’t know how many missing people there are in Philadelphia. There are no accurate numbers. We know how many bikes are stolen each year but not how many missing people there are. I stopped counting a few years ago when I got to the 250 cases I had worked on. I got sucked into the true crime TV shows by my girlfriend. But I get angry at the shows because they sensationalize and because of the demographics.”

More than 20 years ago, the late PBS anchor, Gwen Ifill, who broke barriers as a Black woman in the Washington press corps, coined the term “missing white woman syndrome” for the fact that sometimes an attractive young white woman who goes missing, like Natalee Holloway or Gabby Petito, makes national news day after day while missing people of color never seem to even get local news coverage. But Hopkins has a more nuanced view of the issue.

“I used to feel strongly it was race,” Hopkins said. “To a degree, I still do believe it’s race, but overall I have to say it’s money and popularity. Social media has turned it into high school. Popularity turns the news coverage to the pretty girl or the pretty guy. In reality, it’s no less a tragedy, one person versus the other. It’s still a life.

“I think everybody deserves their fair share of news coverage. I would like to see people judged by the severity of their situation and not the color of their skin, their beauty on their face or their age,” he continued. “Think about the statement we often hear. ‘Missing, beautiful 18-year-old.’ Why is the word ‘beautiful’ even in play? We should be doing the most where we can help the most.”

According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, about 600,000 people are reported missing each year in the United States. The vast majority come home on their own. According to Hopkins, in the cases that result in a search for those who do not return home, about half are eventually found alive.

Hopkins attended the Henry H. Houston School, Parkway Delta High School, Community College of Philadelphia, Temple University and Spring Garden College. From 2017 to 2021, he hosted 150 episodes of a weekly radio show, “Unsung Everyday People,” on WFYL-AM.

What is the most interesting case Hopkins ever worked on? “The most interesting case is the next one,” he insisted. “The most important one is the current one, and the most impactful case is the last one.”

One recent case that Hopkins keeps thinking about is that of Walter Bader, an 80-year-old area resident. “He was active and athletic,” Hopkins said, “and he had to have resilience to make it to age 80, but he had stabbed himself in the stomach several times before. He lived near the Walnut Lane Bridge for six months and on Hortter Street for 43 years before that.”

Bader, who had worked for the Weavers Way Co-op for more than 33 years, usually behind the deli counter, was last seen on Aug. 25 of this year in the 600 block of West Park Lane near Wissahickon Avenue. His 2001 Subaru Forester was found nearby. Police searched the area twice but did not find him.

On Sept. 6, Hopkins and his volunteers searched the densely wooded area under the Walnut Lane Bridge and after six hours found Bader’s remains. They determined that he had jumped off the bridge about 186 feet to the woods below. “Nobody goes down there,” Hopkins said. “The terrain is treacherous.”

How does the job of searching for missing persons, and occasionally dealing with families who have suffered tragic losses, affect Hopkins’ own mental outlook?

“It affects you, but you can’t let it debilitate you,” he said. “I didn’t sleep good before this [job], but this certainly doesn’t help you sleep better. It’s not conducive to a normal sleep cycle.

“The job does make you become cynical,” he said, “but one thing I have to say is that I continue to be impressed by the dedication of friends and family to the missing. There have been more than a few cases that were driven by a strong family presence.”

For more information, visit gpsar.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.