Stewart R. Mott, a flamboyant General Motors heir and self-described "avant-garde philanthropist" who used his family's fortune to underwrite progressive social causes and liberal political campaigns, died Thursday at Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y. He was 70 and had cancer.
In the 1960s and '70s, Mott was one of the country's most visible and controversial activists.
He invested heavily in causes including population control, abortion reform, sex research, arms control and, for a time, extrasensory perception. He also was a chief financial backer of antiwar presidential candidates Democratic Sens. Eugene McCarthy in 1968 and George McGovern in 1972.
In a statement, consumer advocate Ralph Nader called Mott "about the most versatile, imaginative philanthropist of his time. He threw himself into projects and was a pioneer in many fields well before the large foundations."
Tall and irreverent, Mott attracted attention for his flamboyance.
He once lived on a Chinese junk on the Hudson River but exchanged it for a Manhattan penthouse, where he cultivated a vegetable garden with hundreds of varieties. Neighbors were not pleased when his agricultural interest led him to construct a compost pile and chicken coop.
But beneath the surface eccentricity was a determination to address what Mott called the two problems that "confront planet Earth that dwarf and aggravate all conventional problems, namely the threat of nuclear war and the continuing worldwide population explosion."
Alarmed by the course of the Vietnam War, he confronted the General Motors board for failing to speak out on the conflict. To drive home the point -- literally -- he owned a Volkswagen.
Mott's $400,000 contribution to McGovern won the philanthropist inclusion on the Nixon White House's enemies list with the dismissive notation, "Nothing but big money for radic-lib candidates."
Mott replied that the list was "an honor roll of decent Americans."
With some irony, he added that his tax lawyers at the time were partners at Nixon and Atty. Gen. John Mitchell's old firm.
In the 1970s, Mott's political advocacy group, People Politics, spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on similar organizations for women, blacks, young people and good governance. He also funded anti-corruption efforts investigating political and business scandals.
