LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Owsley "Bear" Stanley, a 1960s counterculture figure who flooded the flower power scene with LSD and was an early benefactor of the Grateful Dead, died in a car crash in his adopted home country of Australia on Sunday, his family said. He was believed to be 76.

The renegade grandson of a former governor of Kentucky, Stanley helped lay the foundation for the psychedelic era by producing more than a million doses of LSD at his labs in San Francisco's Bay Area.

"He made acid so pure and wonderful that people like Jimi Hendrix wrote hit songs about it and others named their band in its honor," former rock 'n' roll tour manager Sam Cutler wrote in his 2008 memoirs "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

Hendrix's song "Purple Haze" was reputedly inspired by a batch of Stanley's product, though the guitarist denied any drug link. The ear-splitting blues-psychedelic combo Blue Cheer took its named from another batch.

Stanley briefly managed the Grateful Dead, and oversaw every aspect of their live sound at a time when little thought was given to amplification in public venues. His tape recordings of Dead concerts were turned into live albums.

The Dead wrote about him in their song "Alice D. Millionaire" after a 1967 arrest prompted a newspaper to describe Stanley as an "LSD millionaire." Steely Dan's 1976 single "Kid Charlemagne" was loosely inspired by Stanley's exploits.

According to a 2007 profile in the San Francisco Chronicle, Stanley started cooking LSD after discovering the recipe in a chemistry journal at the University of California, Berkeley.

The police raided his first lab in 1966, but Stanley successfully sued for the return of his equipment. After a marijuana bust in 1970, he went to prison for two years.

"I wound up doing time for something I should have been rewarded for," he told the Chronicle's Joel Selvin. "What I did was a community service, the way I look at it. I was punished for political reasons. Absolutely meaningless. Was I a criminal? No. I was a good member of society. Only my society and the one making the laws are different."

He emigrated to the tropical Australian state of Queensland in the early 1980s, apparently fearful of a new ice age, and sold enamel sculptures on the Internet. He lost one of his vocal cords to cancer.

Stanley was born Augustus Owsley Stanley III in Kentucky, a state governed by his namesake grandfather from 1915 to 1919. He served in the U.S. Air Force for 18 months, studied ballet in Los Angeles, and then enrolled at UC Berkeley. In addition to being an LSD advocate, he adhered to an all-meat diet.

A statement released by Cutler on behalf of Stanley's family said the car crash occurred near his home in far north Queensland. He is survived by his wife Sheila, four children, eight grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

Grate show today on KDHX in memory of "Bear".

03/15/11 The Other One - KDHX 88.1 FM St. Louis

The Other One
With Drea

Tue Mar 15th 2011 12.00pm–2.00pm central time

Brian Curran “Amazing Grace” from Made Myself Lonesome CD ALBUM (Wildstone Audio 2003)

Deadicating this show to the memory of Stanley "Bear" Owsley, Barb's mom and the people of Japan

The Grateful Dead “We Bid You Goodnight” from 2*11*69 (Grateful Dead Records 1997)

Dirty Dozen Brass Band “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” from Funeral For A Friend (Ropeadope Music)

Steve Martin and The Steep Canyon Rangers “Atheists Don't Have No Songs” from Rare Bird Alert (Rounder Records rhino.com 2011)

Keller Williams with Keith Mosley & Jeff Austin “Bird Song” from Rex (Rex Foundation)

Jesse McReynolds & Friends “The Wheel” from Songs Of The Grateful Dead (Woodstock Records 2010)

New Riders of the Purple Sage “Rockin' With Nona” from Where I Come From (self www.davidgreely.com 2009)

Devon Allman's Honeytribe “Endless Diamond” from Space Age Blues (Mascot 2010)

Greg Allman “I Believe I'll Go Back Home” from Low Country Blues (Rounder www.rounder.com 2011)

7 Walker “Someday You'll See” from 7 Walkers (Response Records 2010)

7 Walkers “7 Walkers” (Response Records 2010)

Zero “Home on the Range” from Chance in a Million (Whirled REcords 1994)

JJ Grey & Mofro “Evrything Good is Bad” from Orange Blosom (Alligator www.alligator.com)

Grateful Dead “Wake Up Little Susie” from History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice) (Grateful Dead Productions)

Grateful Dead “Hard to Handle” from History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice) (Grateful Dead Productions)

Grateful Dead “Smokestack Lightning” from History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice) (Grateful Dead Productions)

http://kdhx.org/play/radio-shows/the-other-one

Listen online: http://www.kdhx.org