Israeli author and journalist Yoram Kaniuk, who went to court to have the designation Jewish removed from his Israeli identification card, has died.

Kaniuk died Saturday night at the age of 83 after fighting cancer for many years.

Born and raised in Tel Aviv, Kaniuk is known for his 17 novels, including “Himmo, King of Jerusalem” (1965); “Adam Resurrected” (1968); “Rockinghorse” (1974); “The Last Jew” (1982); and his most recent, “1948,” for which he was awarded the Sapir Prize for Literature in 2011.

He also won the Brenner Prize for literature, the Bialik Prize, and the President’s Prize, for his work, as well as being named an Officer in France’s Order of Arts and Letters.

Kaniuk was wounded while fighting in Israel’s War of Independence.

In 2011, Kaniuk fought to have the designation Jewish removed from his Israeli Identification card, He won the case and was permitted to list identify himself as “without religion,” the same as his Christian-American wife and son.

No funeral will be held, at Kaniuk’s request, and his body will be donated to science.

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