Wassmuth, 61, died Tuesday in Ellensburg after a lengthy battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, said Eric Ward, of the Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity.

Wassmuth founded the coalition after his Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, home was bombed in 1986 by members of Aryan Nations seeking to end his activism. "He touched thousands of people in the Northwest and symbolized the spirit of the Northwest in the fight against bigotry," Ward said Wednesday.

Funeral arrangements were not immediately available.

"Bill Wassmuth's work in his church and in human rights helped change the hearts and minds of many people in the Northwest," said Tony Stewart, a North Idaho College professor and leader of the Kootenai County Task Force on Human Relations.

Stewart noted that Wassmuth lived to see the bankruptcy of the notorious neo-Nazi hate group and its founder, Richard Butler, in a 2000 trial.

"He was present for the verdict and present at the celebration that followed," Stewart said.

Wassmuth was able to tour the group's 20-acre compound after it was purchased by a human rights organization, Stewart said.

Born in Greencreek, Idaho, Wassmuth was one of nine children in a farming family.

"As early as I can remember, I was looking to being a priest," Wassmuth recalled last year.

He graduated from St. Thomas Seminary in Kenmore, Wash., in 1963, and served in Caldwell, McCall and Boise, Idaho.

He arrived at St. Pius X Catholic Church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, in 1979. Under his leadership, the parish doubled in size to 800 and built a bigger church.

While serving as pastor of St. Pius, Wassmuth took on leadership roles outside the parish. In 1985, he became a leader in the fight against the growing presence of the Aryan Nations.

Richard Butler, a former aircraft worker from California, set up the neo-Nazi group's headquarters in nearby Hayed Lake.

Wassmuth mobilized opposition to the group, including a human-rights celebration that dramatically outdrew the Aryan Nations' annual World Congress being held the same week.

On Sept. 15, 1986, having returned from an evening run, Wassmuth was on the telephone in his living room when a pipe bomb shredded the back of his house.
Three other bombs were later detonated throughout Coeur d'Alene, injuring no one. Authorities later convicted Aryan Nations members of the bombings.

The attack prompted Wassmuth to leave the priesthood, move to Seattle and create the coalition to mobilize efforts against hate groups in six Western states. He married artist Mary Frances Dondelinger. In recent years, they lived in the university town of Ellensburg in Eastern Washington.

Wassmuth was dismayed by what he perceived as an escalation of bigotry after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. He was particularly bothered by racial profiling of Arab Americans and Muslims, saying that targeting one group would lead to widespread discrimination against others.

In his 1999 book "Hate is My Neighbor," Wassmuth detailed his fight against the Aryan Nations.

"To ignore hate groups, even though they usually include relatively small numbers of people, is to miscalculate the impact that they can have on a community," Wassmuth wrote, "and to miss an opportunity to bring a community together to take another step toward justice for all."

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