PORT MADOC (Wales): Bertrand Russell, the British philosopher who fought to save the world from the horror of nuclear war, died last night [Feb 2]. He was 97. He died peacefully at his home near this North Wales town, a spokesman for the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation said. ...

Earl Russell’s passion for causes was not dimmed by advancing years and only last December he appealed to the UN to back an international war crimes commission to probe alleged torture by Americans in Vietnam. He died at the end of a life dedicated to campaigning against evil in all its forms at his home [in] Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales, not far from where he was born on May 18, 1872.

Throughout his life Bertrand Russell had been a controversial figure, as well as one of the great intellects of his time. The mathematician and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature was known the world over for his campaigns against war, nuclear bombs and racial discrimination. Bert­rand Russell was an aristocrat by birth, but a man who communicated his views on a tremendous variety of subjects to common people the world over. ... For much of his life, he was regarded as a rebel or a crank by those in power, but he was also revered as a sage.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2020