Paul Kurtz, the secular humanist philosopher died Saturday at his home in the Buffalo suburb of Amherst. The death of Paul Kurtz was announced Oct. 22 by the Center for Inquiry, which was founded by Kurtz in 1991 and has since expanded. He was 86.

A secular humanist philosopher, Paul Kurtz was the founder of an international center devoted to his views, as well as a not-for-profit Committee for Skeptics and Council for Secular Humanism.

He also spread his philosophies in the magazine Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer, which took on topics such as alien sightings and paranormal activity, according to the Associated Press.

Kurtz, born into a New York Jewish family in 1925, wrote or edited more than 50 books on ethics without religion, critiques of religion and the paranormal, and on skepticism, or the challenging of received wisdom.

He died of natural causes, Amherst police said. The nonreligious philosopher Paul Kurtz is survived by his wife, son and three daughters.

 “I am a secular humanist because I am not religious. I draw my inspiration not from religion or spirituality but from science, ethics, philosophy and the arts.” –Paul Kurtz