Kevin Martin Lynch was born in the small, strongly nationalist north Londonderry town of Dungiven, the youngest of eight children of Patrick and Bridie Lynch.
Born May 25, 1956, he left school at age 15 to work with his father, a builder. A year later Lynch moved to Bedford in England to work as a carpenter with three of his brothers, but he became disenchanted with England and returned to Dungiven three years later.
Shortly after his return, like many of his Londonderry friends, Lynch joined the Republican movement and became a member of the Irish National Liberation Army, an extreme splinter group of the Irish Republic Army.
His brother Michael said he joned the INLA because 'he wouldn't ever allow himself to be walked on.'
Lynch was arrested in December 1976 on charges of gun possession and conspiracy. A year later he was sentenced to 10 years in prison, where he immediately joined other Republican inmates in the blanket protest.
Republican prisoners in the Maze prison in the protest refused to wear prison clothes, draping themselves only in a blanket while they remained in cells besmirched with excrement.
While in jail, he often discussed the possibility of a hunger strike, a former cellmate recalled.
Their discussions became a reality on May 23, 1981, when Lynch went on hunger strike, replacing Patrick O'Hara, who died from self-starvation.
When he heard that his son had gone on hunger strike, his father said: 'Kevin is the type of man that wouldn't lie back. He'd want to do his share.'
In recent elections in Ireland, Lynch ran for Parliament in the Waterford constituency, collecting 3,337 votes before being eliminated.
A friend who remembered Lynch as a happy-go-lucky sports enthusiast, said 'he was the last person back in 1969 you would have dreamed would be spending a length of time in prison.'
