Award-winning translator Aharon Amir dies

JERUSALEM, March 1 (UPI) -- Award-winning Israeli translator and author Aharon Amir has died at the age of 85.

Amir, who was born in Lithuania and grew up in Tel Aviv, was a founder of the Canaanite movement, which stressed geographic location as being more important than religious affiliation when defining Israeli or Hebrew culture, said The Jerusalem Post, which did not report the cause of death.

Amir, who died Thursday, was a student of literature and Arabic language at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but was known for translating literary works from French and English.

He translated the works of such authors as Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Herman Melville, Lewis Carroll, Albert Camus, and Virginia Woolf.

Amir was the recipient of the 1951 Tchernichovsky Prize for translation and the 2003 Israel Prize for translation.

There will be no funeral service for Amir because he donated his remains to scientific research, the report said.