Baba Ram Dass, a 1960s counterculture spiritual leader and early LSD proponent, has died at age 88
December 23, 2019, 2:43 PM
1 min read
MAUI, Hawaii -- The 1960s counterculture spiritual leader and early LSD proponent Baba Ram Dass has died. He was 88.
Dass' foundation, Love Serve Remember, announced late Sunday that the author and spiritual leader died earlier in the day at his home in Maui, Hawaii.
Dass is best known for the 1971 "Be Here Now," a spiritual primer that found its way into the hands of backpackers around the world.
He was born Richard Alpert and came under public scrutiny as a young psychology professor at Harvard where his LSD experiments with colleague Timothy Leary got them both kicked out.
He got the name Ram Dass during a 1967 trip to India that introduced him to yoga, meditation and spiritualism. The name means “servant of God” in Hindi.
He went on to write books about aging, start public service and health organizations and promote spiritualism through the Internet.
