Pacifist, socialist leader David McReynolds dead at 88

NEW YORK – Longtime pacifist and socialist activist David McReynolds has died at age 88.

McReynolds has died Friday in a hospital after falling in his New York City apartment. His death was confirmed by the War Resisters League, where McReynolds was a staff member from 1960 to 1999.

McReynolds was one of five men who burned their draft cards at an anti-war protest in 1965.

He later ran for president in 1980 and in 2000 on the Socialist Party USA ticket. McReynolds ran as an openly gay candidate but gay issues were not central to either campaign.

McReynolds also ran for Congress from lower Manhattan twice. He ran for U.S. Senate from New York on the Green Party ticket in 2004.