Anti-War Activist Philip Berrigan Dies

This is a Dec. 1968 photo of the Rev. Phillip Berrigan at an unknown location. Philip Berrigan, the patriarch of the Roman Catholic anti-war movement, died Friday night Dec. 6, 2002 of liver and kidney cancer, his family said. He was 79. (AP Photo)

BALTIMORE (AP) _ Philip Berrigan, the patriarch of the Roman Catholic anti-war movement, died Friday night of liver and kidney cancer, his family said. He was 79.

Berrigan had been living at a communal home for pacifists in Baltimore when he died, his family said.

Berrigan led a group that staged one of the most dramatic protests of the 1960s, dousing homemade napalm on a small bonfire of draft records in a Catonsville parking lot _ and igniting a generation of anti-war dissent.

More recently he helped found the Plowshares movement, whose members have attacked federal military property in anti-war and anti-nuclear protests.

Berrigan's family said he was diagnosed with cancer two months ago and decided to stop chemotherapy one month ago. His brother, also a peace activist, the Rev. Daniel Berrigan, officiated over last rites ceremonies Nov. 30, which was attended by friends and supporters, family members said.

He is survived by his wife, Elizabeth McAlister, and their children, Frida, Jerry and Kate.