Cannabis activist Richard Lee, who opened two highly successful (and highly illegal) medical marijuana dispensaries in Oakland, founded Oaksterdam University, and bankrolled the recreational cannabis measure, just died at 62.  

If you’ve enjoyed strolling into your local legal cannabis dispensary and buying weed, without the hassle of the old street-level pot dealer runaround, you may not realize how much you have a man named Richard Lee to thank for this privilege. Lee founded a couple of Oakland medical marijuana dispensaries before these were legal (and was raided for doing so), then established the popular Oakland cannabis trade school Oaksterdam, and largely bankrolled the 2010 Prop 19 recreational marijuana ballot initiative with the millions he made selling the sticky-icky.

That 2010 measure was unsuccessful, but it directly led to Washington and Colorado legalization measures two years later, and then the successful 2016 California recreational cannabis ballot measure. For his contributions to paving the path to legalization, Richard Lee was dubbed “the Johnny Appleseed of Pot” by NPR.

But Richard Lee died from cancer complications in a Houston hospital last month, as the New York Times reports. He was 62.

Lee fell into the nascent medical marijuana industry, quite literally. That is, he fell from the scaffolding while setting up gear at an Aerosmith show in New Jersey in 1990 at the age of 28, and was left in a wheelchair for life. He found marijuana helped with his back spasms, and went on to establish Oakland’s Blue Sky Coffeeshop (1999) and Bulldog Coffeeshop (2003), both of which were more cannabis dispensaries than coffee shops.  

Lee then founded the famed Oakland cannabis trade school Oaksterdam University in 2007, and threw about $1.5 million of his own money into Prop 19. This (allegedly) led to the feds raiding Oaksterdam in in 2012, and Lee always felt this was payback for his Prop 19 contributions.

Back in 2012, President Barack Obama, then-Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom, and then-state Attorney General all opposed recreational cannabis. Now they all support it, nudged along by activists like Richard Lee.

“Richard’s courage to fight when it wasn’t easy, when it wasn’t safe, and when few others dared, led to a domino effect of global change that we are still witnessing today,” Oaksterdam’s current CEO and executive chancellor Dale Sky Jones said in a statement after his passing. “He didn’t wait for the system to catch up; he worked relentlessly to make it right. His legacy is one of freedom for individuals, freedom for communities, and freedom for families who can now thrive without the shadow of an unjust system hanging over them.”

Oaksterdam University is planning a Richard Lee Celebration of Life and Legacy on Sunday, November 9 from 12 pm to 5 pm at the Chapel of the Flowers in Berkeley. The ceremony will be livestreamed.

Related: Oaksterdam University Allegedly Targeted For Founder's Prop 19 Support [SFist]

Image: OAKLAND, CA - OCTOBER 12: Medical marijuana activist and Oaksterdam University founder Richard Lee speaks during a news conference to bring attention to California State Proposition 19, a measure to legalize marijuana in California on October 12, 2010 in Oakland, California. In less than three weeks voters will go to the polls to decide on Prop 19, the measure to legalize and tax cannabis in the State of California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)