Rev. Des McGrath, one of the founders of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union (FFAW), has been found dead, just a day after failing to appear in a Newfoundland and Labrador court to face sex charges.

RCMP said the body of McGrath, 74, was found in his garage in the western Newfoundland community of Stephenville on Tuesday. The Mounties did not release further details.

The well-known Roman Catholic priest also ran as a candidate for the NDP in the district of Random-Burin-St. Georges in the 2004 federal election, coming in second.

FFAW president Earle McCurdy said his friend and mentor was inspired by the centuries-old oppression of fishers and the grinding poverty of rural communities.

McCurdy said McGrath gave dignity to ordinary people and "had a vision for how outport society could be better than what it had been for the people who lived there."

"His whole life was dedicated to that," McCurdy said.

While tributes poured in for the work McGrath did, his friends and supporters expressed shock over the revelation that McGrath was charged last month with sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in 1982. The allegations stem from when McGrath was the parish priest in Lourdes on the Port au Port Peninsula on Newfoundland's west coast.

There is a publication ban on the name of the alleged victim, who is now an adult.

McGrath's funeral will be held in Corner Brook on Friday.