Porn pioneer Al Goldstein has died at the age of 77.

The publisher passed away on Thursday (19Dec13) at a nursing home in his native Brooklyn, New York and his lawyer, Charles C. DeStefano, reveals the cause of death is believed to be renal failure.

Goldstein co-founded hardcore porn magazine Screw with his pal Jim Buckley in 1968, but the adult content repeatedly landed him in trouble with the law. He was arrested 19 times on various obscenity charges during the title's first three years in business, but he scored a major legal victory in 1974 when a federal case brought against him by authorities was dismissed.

At the height of Screw's popularity, it sold 14,000 copies a week, but it was eventually overshadowed by Larry Flynt's Hustler magazine and other similar hardcore magazines.

Screw folded in 2003, when Goldstein filed for bankruptcy after years of personal troubles.