Bill Wassmuth, leader of fight against bigotry, dies at 61

SPOKANE -- Bill Wassmuth, a former Roman Catholic priest who became a leader in the fight against the Aryan Nations and other hate groups, has died.

Wassmuth, 61, died Tuesday in Ellensburg, Wash. 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 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.

Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne said Wassmuth knew what it was to be a target of hate groups.

"Bill Wassmuth was a bright beacon in the gloom of hatred and evil, and he will be missed," Kempthorne said. "Because of his efforts, Idaho today is no longer home to groups that espouse hatred and violence."

"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 Wassmuth was one of nine children in a farming family.

As early as he could remember, he was looking forward to being a priest, he recalled last year.

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

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

Until the mid 1980s, Wassmuth was known as simply Father Bill. He was a popular and charismatic priest who once arrived at a parish retreat on water skis and was as well known for his cowboy boots and leather jackets as his white collar.

But in 1985, after African-American and Jewish community members received threats from the burgeoning white supremacist movement in northern Idaho, Wassmuth became the antithesis of Butler, leader of the Aryan Nations' 20-acre compound.

In 1985, he became a leader in the fight against the growing presence of the Aryan Nations in northern Idaho.

Butler, a former aircraft worker from California, set up the neo-Nazi group's headquarters in nearby Hayden 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. He was not injured.

Three other bombs were later detonated throughout Coeur d'Alene, injuring no one. Authorities later convicted Aryan Nations members of the bombings.

Several years later, Wassmuth acknowledged that he had become an alcoholic and started treatment.

He left the priesthood, married artist Mary Frances Dondelinger and moved to Seattle to head the Northwest Coalition Against Malicious Harassment. The group organized against hate groups in six Western states.

Wassmuth retired from the coalition in October 1999 and moved with his wife to the university town of Ellensburg in eastern Washington. They had no children.

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.

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."

A memorial service is scheduled Tuesday at St. Andrew Church in Ellensburg.