Columbia, SC : Cardinal William Henry Keeler dead at 86 on Wednesday, March 22nd 2017

Friends and colleagues from across religious and political spectrums remembered Cardinal William Henry Keeler as a spiritual leader of historic stature, a man of great empathy, and a cleric who never stopped reaching out to establish common cause with people of other faiths and backgrounds.

Cardinal Keeler, the longtime leader of the Archdiocese of Baltimore whose influence in the Catholic Church spanned international borders over nearly six decades, died Thursday. He was 86."We lost this morning our great shepherd, great leader and great friend," Archbishop William E. Lori said at the Basilica of the Assumption, America's first cathedral. "He was truly a visionary leader, a gentleman and a very kind man."

Marc B. Terrill, executive director of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, said he learned during a 19-year friendship with the cardinal that he saw beyond cultural divides to what really mattered in life.

"He cared deeply about people, all people, no matter the religion, the race or the creed," Mr. Terrill said. "To him, people were people — period."

The retired archbishop of Baltimore, who led the region's nearly 500,000 Catholics from 1989 until 2007, died while under the care of the Little Sisters of the Poor at St. Martin's House for the Aged in Catonsville, the archdiocese announced.

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Cardinal William Henry Keeler dead at 86