Five years after being gravely wounded by a roadside bomb in Iraq, the Rev. Tim Vakoc, a well-known and well-loved Roman Catholic priest from Minnesota, has died, his family said Sunday.

Vakoc, 49, who had been living at St. Therese Care Center in New Hope, died about 8 p.m. Saturday after being taken to North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, said Barb Rode, president and CEO of St. Therese.

Rode declined to confirm or deny announcements made by several Twin Cities priests during Sunday services that Vakoc had met with some sort of accident at the care center. The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office is expected to release a report on his death later today.

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