Al Shadowitz

Age: 88

Summary: New Jersey electrical engineer who during World War II had joined the Communist Party as a way to protest Hitler's treatment of the Jews but who had quit by 1950 after learning of Stalin's atrocities, who in Dec. 1953 was called to testify before the subcommittee of Senator Joe McCarthy, who at the urging of Albert Einstein became the first person to refuse to cooperate claiming it was a violation of his First Amendment right to free speech, making headlines around the country, and who was charged with contempt of Congress (charges were dripped in 1955), lost his job and was forced to leave his neighborhood.

Cause of Death: Pneumonia

Born: May 5, 1915

Died: March 26, 2004

Location: Toronto, Canada