Ralph Ginzburg, First Amendment Champion, Dies

New York--Ralph Ginzburg, publisher of the controversial 1960's erotic art quarterly Eros, died Thursday. The official cause of death was multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bones. He was 76.

The iconoclastic editor and publisher became infamous after being indicted on obscenity charges in 1963.

New York Catholic Priest Morton Hill, a modern-day Anthony Comstock, persuaded then Attorney General Robert Kennedy to have Ginzburg indicted for "sending obscene matter through the mail" and using allegedly "salacious" promotional methods.

The original indictment called for fines of $280,000 and a prison term of 280 years.

Tame by today's standards, Eros was an expensive hardbound quarterly magazine that bravely explored sexuality in history, politics, art and literature. Unable to keep the publication out of the red, Ginzburg abandoned the project after only four issues were published.

Still, Ginzburg was convicted and eventually served eight months of a five year sentence in federal prison.

During his Supreme Court appeal in 1966, it was found that "abundant evidence was introduced that each of the of the publications was originated or sold as stock in trade of the business of pandering, i.e., the purveying of publications openly advertised to appeal to the customers' erotic interest."

Although he felt that the conviction irreparably damaged his subsequent career, Ginzburg never stopped speaking out for the freedom of expression.

"The government cannot stamp out sexual expression," Ginzburg said. "It's like trying to stamp out the instinct for life itself."