( CNN ) -- Fang Lizhi , a famed Chinese democracy activist , has died in the United States , where he fled in exile more than 20 years ago , fellow activists said . He was 76 . Fang died Friday in Tucson , Arizona , according to Wang Dan , a prominent student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests . `` My most , most respected teacher Fang Lizhi has died , '' Wang wrote on Facebook . `` I am immensely sad . I hope that the Chinese people will forever remember him , that in our history there was a thinker named Fang ( Lizhi ) who inspired a 1989 generation and awakened the people to aspire to human rights and democracy . '' He added , `` Sooner or later , there will be a day when China will be proud of Fang Lizhi . '' Fang , an accomplished astrophysicist , served as vice president of the elite University of Science and Technology at Hefei , Anhui province . He was dismissed from his job and expelled from the Communist Party in 1987 , blamed for sympathizing with student protesters . He was one of the three noted intellectuals who were publicly criticized during the `` anti-bourgeois liberalization '' campaign at that time , though Fang continued to speak out for democracy . In early 1989 , he wrote an open letter to Communist Party leader Deng Xiaoping , calling for the release of Chinese political prisoners . After the bloody crackdown during the Tiananmen protests on June 4 , 1989 , Fang and his wife Li Shuxian sought refuge inside the U.S. embassy in Beijing . A year later , they were allowed to leave China for Britain and were soon after granted political refuge in the United States . Fang spent the past years doing research at the University of Arizona in Tucson .
Fang Yi , [UNK] , a famed Chinese democracy activist , has died in the United States . He was of three intellectuals criticized during ` ` anti - bourgeois ##ie '' campaign . Fang continued to speak out for democracy . Fang was a visiting professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson .