Internationally renowned political and non-violent social activist Staughton Lynd died Thursday at the age of 93, according to messages posted on social media by his friends and acquaintances.

According to the Kent State University Libraries, which has a Staughton and Alice Lynd archive, Staughton Lynd was born in 1929 into a family holding strong socialistic beliefs.

Lynd earned a Ph.D. in History at Columbia University, then accepted a teaching position at Spellman College in Georgia.

During the summer of 1964 he became the director of the Freedom Schools of Mississippi. Afterwards, Lynd accepted a position at Yale University, and, along with his wife Alice and three children, relocated to New England.

It was there that he became a vocal opponent to the war in Vietnam. These activities included speaking engagements, protest marches, and a visit to Hanoi, which resulted in him losing his position at Yale.

In 1965, Lynd made international headlines appearing in a photo with other protestors splashed with red paint at a peace march in Washington, D.C.,

Lynd enrolled in the University of Chicago law school in 1973. He and his wife Alice had conducted an oral history project of the working class.

The Lynds relocated to Youngstown and became part of the unsuccessful effort in the late 1970s to keep the steel mills open.

Tom Leary, a historical consultant with the Youngstown Steel Museum tells 21 News Staughton and Alice were both passionate activists in the Mahoning Valley since the 1970s.

"He's certainly a major figure in the history of the American labor movement and social justice in general," Leary said.

In 1980 Lynd, a lawyer for the Ecumenical Coalition of the Mahoning Valley, testifies before the Ohio House Steel Task Force that the state may be able to help steel workers buy U.S. Steel Corp.'s Ohio Works.

In 2011 Lynd delivered petitions to the warden at the Ohio State Penitentiary in support of inmates who were on a hunger strike to protest conditions at the prison.

Lynd continued organizing efforts in the Youngstown area, remaining active as an attorney, taking on a variety of cases, including those of disabled and retired workers.

In recent years, Lynd has also turned his attention to international issues, such as Nicaragua and the West Bank.