Emru Townsend, a Montreal leukemia patient who launched an international appeal for ethnic bone marrow donors and raised awareness about the lack of donations among ethnic groups, has died.

Townsend, who was of African-Caribbean descent, had managed to find a donor in recent months but did not go into remission. He died in hospital late Tuesday, his family said.

"He taught a lot of people a lot of things, but he spent 2008 teaching people how to reach out to one another in a whole new way," his sister Tamu Townsend wrote in announcing his death on his website.

"If you carry some of this forward, it will be a year even better spent."

Emru Townsend was diagnosed with leukemia last December.

He had written about his ordeal on his website, and he and members of his family worked tirelessly to raise awareness about the need for bone marrow donors from ethnic groups.

In an interview earlier this year, he said blacks are under-represented in bone marrow registries worldwide as are other ethnic groups.

No Caribbean countries maintain registries, so it is up to people of African-Caribbean origin to join the pool of potential donors, Townsend said.

As of March 31, only 1,633 people of African origin were on the Canadian registry.

At that time, there were 500 searches underway for Canadian patients needing bone-marrow transplants.

Stem cells can be donated after registering with the OneMatch Stem Cell and Marrow Network or with Hema-Quebec's stem cell registry.

Townsend, who wrote on animation and technology, was married and had a young son.