Apache Leader Phillip Cassadore
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TUCSON — Phillip Cassadore, spiritual leader of the 10,000-member Apache tribe on the San Carlos Indian Reservation and an independent presidential candidate in 1972, died Tuesday.
Cassadore, 53, suffered heart failure and died at Tucson Medical Center.
He was considered the San Carlos Apache tribe’s foremost medicine man and advocated a return to traditional Indian ways. He took over as tribal leader in 1956 after the death of his father, Chief Broken Arrow.
Cassadore ran for President in 1972 to call attention to what he said were the economic problems faced by American Indians.
He was a consultant on Indian culture to the Smithsonian Institution and other research centers, hosted a weekly radio show called “Apache Report” and recorded 10 albums of Apache songs.
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