WAITE PARK -- (AP) — A longtime leader of the Central Minnesota chapter of the National Federation of the Blind died after he was struck by a car while crossing a street in Waite Park.

Andrew Virden was 83. Police say he was using a white cane while he was crossing the street on Friday night, and that no charges are pending against the driver of the vehicle that hit him.

Virden was blind since childhood. He graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1950, and had served as president of the Central Minnesota chapter of the National Federation for the Blind.

Virden had also been active in DFL politics, and in 2009 received a lifetime service award at the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Dinner in St. Cloud.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

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