SEATTLE (AP) - Walt Crowley, a political commentator and prominent citizen historian who co-founded an online encyclopedia of Washington state history, has died after complications following a stroke. He was 60.

Crowley had battled cancer of the larynx and recently underwent surgery to remove a small growth linked to a recurrence of the disease when he suffered a stroke on Thursday. Family and friends were at his side Friday when doctors removed him from life support.

Born in suburban Detroit, Crowley lived in Washington, D.C., and Connecticut before his family moved to Seattle in 1961, after his father took a job with Boeing Co.

He worked as an illustrator at Boeing before enrolling at the University of Washington, where he became active in anti-war and civil-rights movements of the late 1960s. He dropped out in 1967 to work at The Helix, left-wing weekly paper at the school.

In 1970, he helped mediate talks between city officials and protesters after riots rocked the University District.

"I remember him very well because he had a Lenin hat with a big red star on it" when they first met, then-Mayor Wes Uhlman said. "I realized he was a very smart guy, so I hired him."

Chrowley ended up working for several city departments, eventually serving as deputy director of the policy planning office. He made an unsuccessful run for City Council in 1979 and later served on the first board of the ill-fated monorail project.

While helping pave new routes, Crowley also worked to keep the best of the old around. He headed Mayor Norm Rice's preservation task force and worked to preserve and restore the historic downtown theaters. He drafted new laws and tax incentives to help preserve the Paramount, Moore and Eagle theaters. Crowley also led a successful campaign to save the city's historic Blue Moon Tavern from demolition in 1990.

Crowley had an on-and-off career in journalism, working as both a freelance and staff writer for the Seattle Weekly. From the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, he served as the liberal foil to conservative radio host John Carlson on KIRO television's "Point-Counterpoint." Crowley also wrote and produced several features for KCTS-9 Public Television in the late 1980s and early 90s, and gave weekly comomentaries on KPLU-FM.

In the late 1990s, Crowley, his wife, Marie McCaffrey, and historian Paul Dorpat rounded up investors and launched HistoryLink.org. Slow to catch on at first, the Web site gained traction after a $100,000 grant from Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in 2002 allowed it to broaden its scope statewide.

Today Historylink.org boasts gets about 4 million hits a month and is considered a model for similar sites across the country.

Pam Health, one of the Web site's board members, said Crowley considered it his crowning achievement. He saw historical information as a public utility, "as vital as running water or your lights," she said.

In addition to his wife, Crowley is survived by his mother, Violet Kilvinger, and father, Walter Crowley. Memorial services are pending.