A Gandhian Quaker convict and peace teacher

Lee Stern, a pacifist and conscientious objector to war, was among the most influential Quakers of the twentieth century. He was a founder in 1940 of Ahimsa Farm (near Cleveland, Ohio) which promoted pacifism and racial integration. Imprisoned as a conscientious objector during World War II, he helped to racially integrate the prison. Stern was a prominent member of New York Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and Rockland Monthly Meeting (Rockland, NY); he worked for Fellowship of Reconciliation in Nyack, New York, was active in protesting the Vietnam War, and was a founder of Alternatives to Violence, Children's Creative Response to Conflict, and Peace Brigades International. In his later years he taught alternatives to violence in Maryland prisons.