Colson Complications from brain hemorrhage_Charles Colson died Saturday from complications that arose after he suffered a brain hemorrhage in March after undergoing surgery to remove a clot in his brain. The clot had been discovered after he fell ill while speaking at a conference. Colson was 80 years old and lived in Naples, Fla., but also had an apartment in Leesburg, Va., He is best known to most for his role in former President Richard Nixon's administration but more recently he had been involved in his own Prison Fellowship Ministries organization.

Colson, whom Nixon appointed to serve as special council in the administration, made it clear he would do whatever it took, including taking down other political figures, to get Nixon a second term. Though his role in the actual Watergate scandal was minor, his role in one of the lesser known political scandals of the Nixon administration helped lead to his imprisonment.

He went to efforts to cover up the Ellsburg and Watergate scandals and he leaked confidential information to press. Though he denied it, he was also believed by many to have been an organizer of the Ellsburg scandal. This involved key Nixon staffers breaking into a therapist's office to steal information about an anti-war advocate to hopefully find information that would make him look bad. For his roles in the cover up and scandals, Colson was sent to prison in 1974 and released just months later in 1975. He claims he emerged a changed man.

After his prison term, Colson found God. He reportedly turned his life away from the criminal activities of the past and turned towards an evangelical lifestyle. He believed that his time spent in prison, stemming from the Watergate scandal, led him to a better place. His time in prison also led to him to want to minister to those who were in a similar position. He wrote books and made appearances which mostly were used to finance his ministries. Though he did not generally minister himself, he was the founder and principle driving force behind the organization.

source: yahoo