Bruce Yorke, a co-founder of the Coalition of Progressive Electors, former Vancouver city councilor, and lifelong member of the Communist Party of Canada, has died after a lengthy illness, aged 91.

Yorke was born in 1924 and grew up in affluent Point Grey before studying economics at UBC, where he played basketball for the Thunderbirds.

His social activism began at UBC and stayed with him all his life. He argued against the internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War, campaigned for nuclear disarmament, and advocated for workers' rights.

Yorke fought hard for the establishment of tenants' rights in Vancouver and was elected to council five times, where he championed affordable housing and was instrumental in the mobilization of massive peace marches through the city in the '80s.

A serious illness forced Yorke to resign from City Hall in 1992.

He died December 5.