Aaron Russo

[dcrooksjr]

Aaron Russo lost his battle with cancer Friday morning. For those who don't know who he is I posted his bio below.
Aaron Russo (February 14, 1943 – August 24, 2007) was an entertainment businessman, film maker, and libertarian political activist.
Entertainment career
During his career in the entertainment industry, Russo was manager for Bette Midler from 1972 to 1979 ^[1] and The Manhattan Transfer, and the producer of the films The Rose and Trading Places. He also produced Wise Guys. Russo has stated that he was the first person to book Led Zeppelin in a United States venue,^{[citation needed]} (the "Electric Theater," Chicago,1968, later named the "Kinetic Playground").
He was awarded an Emmy for a Bette Midler TV special, and a gold record for producing the soundtrack to The Rose.
Russo directed 1989's Rude Awakening.
Russo's films, which include Trading Places (starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd) and The Rose (starring Bette Midler), have received six academy award nominations. Russo has personally won both an Emmy and a Tony award and his films have also won a number of Golden Globe awards.
His latest film is America: Freedom to Fascism, a documentary critical of The Federal Reserve System and the Internal Revenue Service.
Political career
Russo became involved in politics in the early 1990s when he produced and starred in a video entitled Mad As Hell in which he criticized NAFTA, The War on Drugs, the concept of a National Identity Card, and government regulation of alternative medicine.
Russo ran in the Republican primary for governor of Nevada in 1998, placing second with 26% of the vote. He then endorsed the Democratic candidate, Las Vegas mayor Jan Laverty Jones, who lost to Republican Kenny Guinn. Russo subsequently planned to run for governor in 2002 as an independent or a Libertarian, but he was temporarily sidelined by cancer.
In January 2004, he declared his candidacy for the President of the United States as an independent, then decided to run for the Libertarian Party's nomination. While some considered Russo's style crude and even insulting ^[2] , others argued his media experience would enable him to pose a serious threat to incumbent President George W. Bush, pulling enough votes from otherwise likely Bush voters to affect the outcome in battleground states, in the same way that Ralph Nader was considered to be in relation to Democrat John Kerry.^{[3] [4] [5]}
At the Libertarian National Convention in May 2004, Russo received 258 votes, as opposed to 256 for Michael Badnarik and 246 for Gary Nolan, a majority being required to receive the presidential nomination. Russo went on to be defeated on the third and final ballot by nominee Badnarik by a vote of 423-344.
On January 14, 2007, Russo announced his full support for U.S. Congressman Ron Paul's 2008 presidential bid. ^{[6] [7]} This support includes his America: Freedom to Fascism volunteer network. ^[8]
Death
On August 24, 2007, Russo passed away from cancer at the age of 64. He had been quite ill, even though he began treatments for his ailment prior to the release and promotion of America: Freedom to Fascism. He passed away at around 4:10 a.m. that early morning.

Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Russo