Anton S. LaVey Dies at 67

The Founder Falls - Obituary

SAN FRANCISCO—Anton Szandor LaVey, 67, who founded the Church of Satan and played the devil in Roman Polanksi's 1968 film "Rosemary's Baby," died here of a pulmonary edema. He had heart ailments.

Family members said Mr. LaVey died Oct. 29, but for some reason his death certificate lists him as having died Oct. 31 -- Halloween. Deepening the mystery, the family said they kept his death secret for a week in order not to distract his followers over their most important holiday season.

He founded the Church of Satan in 1966 and made national headlines the next year for performing a satanic wedding, then baptizing his daughter in the Church of Satan.

The church claims more than 10,000 members, scattered across the globe. His followers, which the British newspaper the Sunday Times last year said included Sammy Davis Jr. and Jayne Mansfield, nicknamed him "the Black Pope."

A daughter, Karla LaVey, and his companion, Blanche Barton, a church high priestess, have vowed to continue his work.

Mr. LaVey, a Chicago native, was a man of many interests. He worked over the years as a lion trainer, professional organist, crime photographer, artist, hypnotist and psychic. But he was always drawn to the unexplored and unexplained, family members said.

But his brand of Satanism was not about evil or animal and child sacrifices, family members said. It was more about rational freethinking and a disdain for the hypocrisy he believed corrupted Christianity.

He preached living for the day, instead of for an afterlife that nobody can prove exists, they said. He did not believe in the devil as an anthropomorphic being with horns and a tail, but rather as a Jungian archetype conjured up by mankind.

Still, Mr. LaVey played the "Satan" image to the hilt. He often was seen walking in his neighborhood, bald head gleaming, black cape flapping. For years, he kept a lion and a tarantula as pets, and he spent hours each day playing eerie organ music that could be heard on the sidewalk outside his home.

The family home, a late 1800s Victorian hidden behind a chain-link and barbed wire fence, is painted black throughout with red ceilings, pentagrams and satanic statuettes. Daggers and skulls hang on the walls next to a coffin with a plastic owl perched on top.

Mr. Lavey was the author of five books, including "The Satanic Bible," "The Satanic Witch" and "The Satanic Rituals," of which there are more than 1 million copies in print combined. Singapore banned one, "The Devil's Notebook," in 1995, saying it promoted Satanism and denigrated Christianity. Mr. LaVey's final book, "Satan Speaks," is scheduled for release in the spring.

In recent years, he released several musical recordings such as "Satan Takes a Holiday," an album that included such tunes as "Honolulu Baby" and "Answer Me."

His daughter told a news conference: "He said his epitaph should be . . . `I only regret the times that I was too nice.' "

In addition to his companion and daughter, survivors include a 4-year-old son, Xerxes.

- An Extract from the Washington Post -