Al Goldstein, founder of the pornographic and trailblazing Screw magazine, died of renal failure in New York on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Goldstein, 77, played a main role in protecting the pornography industry and allowing them to produce adult content under the First Amendment after fighting numerous court battles, according to Reuters.
After battling several illnesses over the past years, Goldstein died of renal failure in a New York hospice, according to his lawyer, Reuters reported.
Goldstein, who commonly referred to himself as a crusader for personal liberties, gained notoriety in 1973 after he printed nude pictures of former first lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, selling over 500,000 and enraging her supporters and politicians, according to Reuters.
"To be angry is to be alive. I'm an angry Jew. I love it. Anger is better than love. I think it is more pure," Goldstein said in an interview in 2001, according to the Associated Press. "There's so much to be angry about, because people are ripped off, the election went to the wrong person, the good guys usually lose and society sucks."
Born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, Goldstein shaped sexual satire which would be imitated for years after by pornographers and entertainers, like Hustler magazine, Reuters reported.
Goldstein suffered through various financial troubles after magazine sales diminished and he began to battle numerous illnesses, according to Reuters.
Due to problems within his family, Goldstein was not invited to his son's graduation ceremony from Harvard law school in 2002, Reuters reported. In 2003, Screw officially stop publishing their weekly magazines.
It seems to have gone down hill for Goldstein after that: due to court battles and divorce, Goldstein lost his home in Manhattan and had to sell his Florida Mansion which had its own huge middle-finger statue, Reuters reported.
