Author and Native American activist Vine Deloria Jr., who wrote "Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto," has died in Denver at age 72.
The Golden, Colo., resident died Sunday from complications of an aortic aneurysm, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.
Experts called Deloria one of the most influential American Indians of the past century, the Times said. He wrote more than 20 books, with "Custer Died for Your Sins," his best known.
Deloria was executive director of the National Congress of American Indians from 1964-1967 and was widely credited with forcing a turning point in Indian policy.
He received the American Indian Visionary Award from Indian Country Today magazine and the University of Colorado Center of the American West's Wallace Stegner Award for contributing to the cultural identity of the West.
Deloria is survived by his wife of 47 years, Barbara, two sons, a daughter, a brother, a sister and seven grandchildren.
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