Les Skramstad worked with 150 people at the now-closed W.R. Grace and Co. vermiculite mine in Libby, Mont. more than four decades ago. Last year, he said that all but four of his co-workers were dead.

On Sunday morning, Skramstad died of asbestos-related disease, another Libby resident fallen victim to the deadly fibers released into the air.

Skramstad -- an activist who became a public face for victims of absestos-related disease tied to the Libby mine -- had been diagnosed with mesothelioma, a rare, fast-moving cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs, about a month ago, his son, Brent Skramstad, said Monday.

He had several tumors in his stomach and had been previously diagnosed with asbestosis, which has been compared to a slow, constant suffocation.

"It's a hard cross for me to carry around," he told the Associated Press in 2006. Skramstad, 70, was best known as a voice for many of Libby's sickened residents. He lobbied Congress for financial relief for those who could not pay their many medical bills.

He believed asbestos fibers he brought home from the mine on his clothing also sickened his family; both of his children and his wife have asbestos-related health problems.

The vermiculite, used in a variety of household products, contained tremolite asbestos that was released into the air and carried home on clothing. It is blamed by some health authorities for killing about 200 people and sickening one of every eight Libby residents.

"Hopefully there's somebody who will take his place now," Brent Skramstad said of his father. "Because this is something you never want to be dropped. You want people to be held accountable for it."

Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., spoke on the Senate floor Monday in honor of Skramstad.

"Les Skramstad was not only an outspoken advocate for his town, which was horribly wronged at the hands of W.R. Grace, but he was also my friend," Baucus said. Baucus recounted his first encounter with Skramstad, in 2000 after widespread illness in Libby was first linked to the mine.

Skramstad "pointed his finger and said to me, 'I'll be watching, senator.' And he did," Baucus said.

Rep. Denny Rehberg, R-Mont., also issued a statement on Skramstad's death.

"Les Skramstad was a great friend to his community and a wonderful father to a family that truly understands the damage asbestos can do," Rehberg said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has declared Libby a Superfund site. In October, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment Grace's effort to get out from under a $54 million bill for asbestos cleanup in Libby. The company denies any wrongdoing.

A 2005 indictment charges Grace and seven of its former managers with conspiring to conceal health risks posed by the Montana mine, which closed in 1990. A U.S. District Court trial has been sidelined pending appeals.

"It's going to kill us, every one of us," Les Skramstad said last year. "It's just a matter of time."