Russo dies

Aaron Russo, an Emmy award-winning record and movie producer who moved to Nevada in 1998 and made a splashy but futile run for governor, died of cancer on Aug. 24.

Russo, who attracted less than a third of the vote in the ‘98 Republican primary, later ran for the Libertarian presidential nomination in 2004, leading the Atlanta convention balloting at one point before losing on the third ballot. He has been inactive in feature film production since 1991 but made some videos, one of which—Mad As Hell—was excerpted and used against him in television spots during his campaign for governor.

More recently, he was marketing a movie he made called America/Freedom to Fascism (”Russo returns,” May 10). He had an intensely loyal internet-based following. Sites like Free Market News Network and Men’s Daily News posted essays about Russo’s passing.

“It is now our task, our life mission to continue to fan the fires of liberty that he started,” wrote Jim Paulson of Minnesota in one web posting. “It is up to us to continue to uncover the dark secrets about America, to bring them into the light of truth.” He called for the election of U.S. Rep. Ron Paul as president as the best way to do that. Russo endorsed Paul, a candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, on Jan. 14.