Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor dies aged 87

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, human right activist, Holocaust survivor and author who fought for peace, human rights and simple human decency, has died aged 87, after a long illness.

President Barack Obama called the author and Nobel Peace Prize laureate "the conscience of the world."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wiesel "served as a ray of light."

"The state of Israel and the Jewish people express sorrow over the death of Elie Wiesel. Elie, a master of words, gave expression to the victory of the human spirit over cruelty and evil with his unusual personality and captivating stories."

Born on September 30, 1928 to Romanian parents, Wiesel was perhaps best known for Night, a book that chronicled his experiences as a teenager at a Nazi German concentration camps during the Holocaust.

"Night," was published in France in 1958, and in just over 100 pages of sparse and fragmented narrative, Wiesel writes about the death of God and his own increasing disgust with humanity.

One excerpt of Night reads:

"There’s a long road of suffering ahead of you. But don’t lose courage. You’ve already escaped the gravest danger: selection. So now, muster your strength, and don’t lose heart. We shall all see the day of liberation. Have faith in life. Above all else, have faith. Drive out despair, and you will keep death away from yourselves. Hell is not for eternity. And now, a prayer - or rather, a piece of advice: let there be comradeship among you. We are all brothers, and we are all suffering the same fate. The same smoke floats over all our heads. Help one another. It is the only way to survive."

The book has been translated in 30 languages.

His family said he died peacefully Saturday after a long illness."My husband was a fighter. He fought for the memory of the 6 million Jews who perished in the Holocaust, and he fought for Israel. He waged countless battles for innocent victims regardless of ethnicity or creed," his widow, Marion, said in a statement released by the writer's foundation.

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