Photo Credit: Ira Rosenberg / Library of Congress
World heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in 1967.

The ‘greatest fighter of all time,” three-time world champion heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali, died Friday at 74.

Family spokesperson Bob Gunnell confirmed Ali’s passing. He lived in Phoenix and was admitted to the hospital with “respiratory problems” hours before he died.

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The famed boxer, born Cassius Clay and raised as a Baptist but in 1964 announced he was a member of the Nation of Islam, was afflicted with Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years.

Ali’s Islamic stance moderated over the years; by 1975, he had mellowed considerably, converting again, this time to Sunni Islam. Ali’s daughter Khaliah married a Jew – attorney Spencer Wertheimer – and the couple named their son Jacob. The family reportedly attended Congregation Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia.

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Hana Levi Julian is a Middle East news analyst with a degree in Mass Communication and Journalism from Southern Connecticut State University. A past columnist with The Jewish Press and senior editor at Arutz 7, Ms. Julian has written for Babble.com, Chabad.org and other media outlets, in addition to her years working in broadcast journalism.