Richard D. Mudd, 101, who spent much of his life trying...

Richard D. Mudd, 101, who spent much of his life trying to overturn his grandfather's conviction on charges of aiding Abraham Lincoln assassin John Wilkes Booth, died Tuesday at his home in Saginaw, Mich.

Mr. Mudd, who retired in 1965 after 37 years as a physician for General Motors Corp., traveled the nation on speaking engagements, many of them before Civil War historical organizations. He spent decades trying to clear the name of his grandfather, Dr. Samuel A. Mudd, who treated Booth after the 1865 assassination of President Abraham Lincoln at Washington's Ford's Theater.

Samuel Mudd, who set Booth's broken leg, was convicted by a military commission of aiding and abetting conspirators in the assassination. He was pardoned, but his grandson was determined to exonerate him totally. He died still trying.