Stew Albert, a compatriot of Yippie co-founder Abbie Hoffman and friend of beat poet Allen Ginsberg, died in Portland the other day. I didn’t know the guy, but sure sounds like he led an interesting life.

A revolutionary with a street-theater bent, Albert led what by all accounts was an extraordinary life. He was born in 1939 to a New York City employee who, as Albert’s biography and press accounts noted, kept a pail of sand in the front hall of his family’s home just in case Japan bombed their house.

After college, Albert followed his dream: to move to San Francisco and hang out at City Lights book store. Shortly after his arrival there, Albert found a compatriot (and fellow pot smoker) in Ginsberg. He worked for the Vietnam Day Committee in Berkeley, and soon became active in the Vietnam War protest movement.

In 1984, Albert moved to Portland, where be became active in an anti-racism group called the Northwest Coalition for Human Dignity. He stuck to his Jewish roots by joining and then becoming president of Oregon Jewish Agenda, which started promoting Palestinian-Jewish dialogue before formal impetus for that dialog began.

The funeral is at liberal Reconstructionist synagogue Havurah Shalom, at 1 p.m. today. 825 NW 18 th Avenue, Portland.

The Oregonian’s obit says remembrances to Planned Parenthood Columbia Willamette or Rosenberg Fund for Children.

Given the swearing in of an anti-choice (or pro-life, if you prefer) Supreme Court Justice yesterday, it seems that some of the ideals reflected in Albert’s remembrance requests are still being fought over.