Athens, peace groups will miss internationally known activist

Source Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch

Art Gish, internationally known for his work as a peace activist, died yesterday in a tractor accident at his Athens County farm. He was 70. Gish was a thoughtful and charismatic co-founder of the People for Peace and Justice organization, and he was a well-known writer and street preacher before moving to Athens County in the early 1970s. He lived there with his wife, Peggy, who is in Iraq with the Christian Peacemaker Teams organization. Carol Kuhre, the former longtime director of the Rural Action organization in Athens County, said Gish was a profound thinker and writer whose great depth of thought was eclipsed only by his actions. "I told my husband this morning that 'one of the prophets among us is gone,'" she said. "He could read the times very well, and had a very deep understanding of society."