Neo-Nazi leader Pierce dead at 68

Pierce

HILLSBORO, West Virginia (CNN) -- William Pierce, the neo-Nazi whose novel "The Turner Diaries" inspired Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building, died Tuesday at age 68.

Pierce died Tuesday afternoon of kidney and liver cancer, a source close to him told CNN. Groups who monitor the National Alliance also reported Pierce's death.

Pierce earned a doctorate in physics and later taught at Oregon State University. But as the leader of the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi group based in a compound in Hillsboro, West Virginia, Pierce espoused hard-line anti-Semitic and anti-black rhetoric.

The National Alliance is considered the largest extremist group on the American far right. It is estimated to have 7,000 to 8,000 active members and at least double that number of donors, according to sources who monitor the groups.

"The Turner Diaries," written under the pseudonym Andrew MacDonald, described the violent overthrow of the federal government and the extermination of blacks and Jews in the United States. McVeigh cited the book as his inspiration for the bombing of the Murrah Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO William Pierce, the neo-Nazi who inspired Timothy McVeigh to bomb the Oklahoma City federal building, has died at age 68. CNN's Kathy Slobogin reports (July 24) Play video

In addition, Pierce was also the owner of Resistance Records, a record company that produced hate rock.

The Anti-Defamation League, which monitors extremist groups, said "We hope the National Alliance will die with William Pierce."

Calls to the Hillsboro compound were not returned.

-- CNN Senior Producer Henry Schuster contributed to this report.