Reverend Michael Baldasaro, a long-time marijuana advocate here in Hamilton, died early Thursday morning at the age of 67. He’d been receiving palliative care at Emmanuel House and the hospice said that he died peacefully in his sleep after a short battle with prostate cancer. He was known as a marijuana activist, a perennial candidate, a reverend and member of the Church of the Universe.

Baldasaro has been recognized as a man with ideas beyond his time, a marijuana activist who helped create a religion were pot is proclaimed a sacrament. His daughter Andromeda remembers him differently.

29 years ago Baldasaro was dating her mom while she was pregnant and when Andromeda was born he signed the papers as her father. They may not be related by blood but they remained apart of each other’s lives.

However many people remember him as a pot activist. For years Baldasaro alongside Brother Walter Tucker, the founder of the Church of the Universe, were in the news battling the courts to smoke marijuana legally. It even landed them both in jail.

Today Reverend Juliet Boyd, said that she promised Baldasaro that she would carry on the Church of the Universe.

Baldasaro ran for mayor a number of times since the 1970’s almost in every single election. He recognized that he wasn’t your typical candidate but that’s why so many people in Hamilton voted for him. Today City Hall mourns his loss.

He will be missed by family, church members and the many people he helped along the way.