Journalist Czernin dead at 50

VIENNA, June 15 (UPI) -- Austrian journalist Hubertus Czernin, who was instrumental in returning art seized by the Nazis to its rightful owner, has died in Vienna at 50.

Czernin died Saturday of complications associated with mastocytosis, a rare cell disorder he suffered from and which had left him in poor health for last few years, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Czernin -- the first journalist to have access to records at the Austrian Gallery in Vienna -- reported in a series of articles about the questionable ownership papers of famous paintings from artist Gustav Klimt.

The 1998 articles helped pave the way for the passage of Austria's Art Restitution Law, which allowed the family of Maria Altmann to pursue claims to artwork that had been seized during World War II.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed Altmann to sue the Austrian government for ownership of the multimillion dollar Klimt paintings.

"Hubertus Czernin was a hero to me," Altmann's attorney Randol Schoenberg told the Times. "He committed his life to exposing unspoken truths about Austria and its Nazi past. Without his efforts, none of the recent art restitution would have taken place and certainly the five famous Klimt paintings would never have been returned to Maria Altmann."